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Robinson   Crusoe. 

"  'I  WORE  A  HIGH  CAP  OF  GOAT  SKIN.'  " 


ALTEMUS"    ONE   SYLLABLE  SERLES 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE 


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BY  DANIEL  DEFOE 


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1  VESOP'S    FABLES 

2  A   CHILD'S    LIFE   OF   CHRIST 

4  THE      ADVENTURES     OF     ROBINSON 

CRUSOE 

5  BUNYAN'S    PILGRIM'S    PROGRESS 

6  SWISS   FAMILY    ROBINSON 

7  GULLIVER'S   TRAVELS 

9      A     CHILD'S     STORY     OF     THE     OLD 
TESTAMENT 

10  A     CHILD'S     STORY     OF     THE     NEW 

TESTAMENT 

11  BIBLE    STORIES    FOR    LITTLE    CHIL- 

DREN 

12  THE   STORY    OF  JESUS 

Copyright  iqoo,  by  Htnry  Alttmus 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE 


I  WAS  born  at  York,  in  Eng-land,  on  the  First 
of  March,  1632,  which  was  the  sixth  year  of 
the  reign  of  King  Charles  the  First.  From 
the  time  when  I  was  quite  a  young  child  I  had 
felt  a  great  wish  to  spend  my  life  at  sea,  and  as 
I  grew,  so  did  this  taste  grow  more  and  more 
strong;  till  at  last  I  broke  loose  from  my  school 


io  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

and  home,  and  found  my  way  on  foot  to  Hull, 
where  I  soon  got  a  place  on  board  a  ship. 

When  we  had  set  sail  but  a  few  days,  a  squall 
of  wind  came  on,  and  on  the  fifth  night  we  sprang 
a  leak.  All  hands  were  set  to  the  pumps,  but  we 
felt  the  ship  groan  in  all  her  planks,  and  her 
beams  quake  from  stem  to  stern ;  so  that  it  was 
soon  quite  clear  there  was  no  hope  for  her,  and 
that  all  we  could  do  was  to  save  our  lives. 

The  first  thing  was  to  fire  off  guns,  to  show 
that  we  were  in  need  of  help,  and  at  length  a 
ship,  which  lay  not  far  from  us,  sent  a  boat  to 
our  aid.  But  the  sea  was  too  rough  for  it  to  lie 
near  our  ship's  side,  so  we  threw  out  a  rope, 
which  the  men  in  the  boat  caught,  and  made  fast, 
and  by  this  means  we  all  got  in. 

Still,  in  so  wild  a  sea  it  was  vain  to  try  to  get 
on  board  the  ship  which  had  sent  out  the  men,  or 
to  use  our  oars  in  the  boat,  and  all  we  could  do 
was  to  let  it  drive  to  shore. 

In  the  space  of  half  an  hour  our  own  ship  struck 
on  a  rock  and  went  down,  and  we  saw  her  no 
more.  We  made  but  slow  way  to  the  land,  which 
we  caught  sight  of  now  and  then  when  the  boat 


I  FELT  THE  WISH  TO  SPEND  MY  LIFE  AT  SEA. 


II 


12  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

rose  to  the  top  of  some  high  wave,  and  there  we 
saw  men  who  ran  in  crowds,  to  and  fro,  all  bent 
on  one  thing,  and  that  was  to  save  us. 

At  last  to  our  great  joy  we  got  on  shore, 
where  we  had  the  luck  to  meet  with  friends  who 
gave  us  the  means  to  get  back  to  Hull ;  and  if  I 
had  now  had  the  good  sense  to  go  home,  it  would 
have  been  well  for  me. 

The  man  whose  ship  had  gone  down  said 
with  a  grave  look,  "Young  lad,  you  ought  to  go 
to  sea  no  more ;  it  is  not  the  kind  of  life  for  you." 
"Why,  sir,  will  you  go  to  sea  no  more  then?" 
"That  is  not  the  same  kind  of  thing.  I  was  bred 
to  the  sea,  but  you  were  not,  and  came  on  board 
my  ship  just  to  find  out  what  a  life  at  sea  was 
like,  and  you  may  guess  what  you  will  come  to 
if  you  do  not  go  back  to  your  home.  God  will 
not  bless  you.  and  it  may  be  that  you  have 
brought  all  this  woe  on  us." 

I  spoke  not  a  word  more  to  him ;  which  way 
he  went  I  knew  not,  nor  did  I  care  to  know,  for 
I  was  hurt  at  this  rude  speech.  Shall  I  go 
home,  thought  I,  or  shall  I  go  to  sea?     Shame 


THE  WALK  BACK  TO  HULL. 


«3 


14  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

kept  me  from  home,  and  I  could  not  make  up 
my  mind  what  course  of  life  to  take. 

As  it  has  been  my  fate  through  life  to  choose 
for  the  worst,  so  I  did  now.  I  had  gold  in  my 
purse,  and  good  clothes  on  my  back,  and  to  sea 
I  went  once  more. 

But  I  had  worse  luck  this  time  than  the  last, 
for  when  we  were  far  out  at  sea,  some  Turks  in 
a  small  ship  came  on  our  track  in  full  chase. 
We  set  as  much  sail  as  our  yards  would  bear,  so 
as  to  get  clear  from  them.  But  in  spite  of  this, 
we  saw  our  foes  gain  on  js,  and  we  felt  sure 
that  they  would  come  up  to  our  ship  in  a  few 
hours'  time. 

At  last  they  caught  us ;  but  we  brought  our 
guns  to  bear  on  them,  which  made  them  sheer 
off  for  a  time,  yet  they  kept  up  a  lire  at  us  as 
long  as  they  were  in  range.  The  next  time  the 
Turks  came  up,  some  of  their  men  got  on  board 
our  ship,  and  set  to  work  to  cut  the  sails,  and  do 
us  all  kinds  of  harm.  So  as  ten  of  our  men  lay 
dead,  and  most  of  the  rest  had  wounds,  we 
gave  in.  v\ 

The  chief  of  the  Turks  took  me  as  a  prize  to 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  I§ 

a  port  which  was  held  by  the  Moors.  He  did 
not  use  me  so  ill  as  at  first  I  thought  he  would 
have  done,  but  he  set  me  to  work  with  the  rest 
of  his  slaves.     This  was  a  change  in    my    life 


I  WENT  WITH  HIM  TO  FISH. 


which  I  did  not  think  had  been  in  store  for  me. 
How  my  heart  sank  with  grief  at  the  thought  of 
those  whom  I  had  left  at  home,  nay,  to  whom  I 
had  not  had  the  grace  so  much  as  to  say  "Good- 


16  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

bye"  when  I  went  to  sea,  nor  to  give  a  hint  of 
what  I  meant  to  do ! 

Yet  all  that  I  went  through  at  this  time  was 
but  a  taste  of  the  toils  and  cares  which  it  has 
since  been  my  lot  to  bear. 

I  thought  at  first  that  the  Turk  might  take 
me  with  him  when  next  he  went  to  sea,  and  so 
I  should  find  some  way  to  get  free ;  but  the  hope 
did  not  last  long,  for  at  such  times  he  left  me  on 
shore  to  see  his  crops.  This  kind  of  life  I  led 
for  two  years,  and  as  the  Turk  knew  and  saw 
more  of  me,  he  made  me  more  and  more  free. 
He  went  out  in  his  boat  once  or  twice  a  week  to 
catch  a  kind  of  flat  fish,  and  now  and  then  he 
took  me  and  a  boy  with  him,  for  we  were  quick 
at  this  kind  of  sport,  and  he  grew  quite  fond  of 
me. 

One  day  the  Turk  sent  me  in  a  boat  to  catch 
some  fish,  with  no  one  else  but  a  man  and  a  boy. 
While  we  were  out,  so  thick  a  fog  came  on,  that 
though  we  were  not  half  a  mile  from  the  shore, 
we  quite  lost  sight  of  it  for  twelve  hours ;  and 
when  the  sun  rose  the  next  day,  our  boat  was  at 
least  ten  miles  out  at  sea.     The  wind  blew  fresh, 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  17 

and  we  were  all  much  in  want  of  food ;  but  at 
last,  with  the  help  of  oars  and  sail,  we  got  back 
safe  to  land. 

When  the  Turk  heard  how  we  had  lost  our 
way,  he  said  that  the  next  time  he  went  out,  he 
would  take  a  boat  that  would  hold  all  we  could 
want  if  we  were  kept  out  at  sea.  So  he  had 
quite  a  state  room  built  in  the  long  boat  of  his 
ship,  as  well  as  a  room  for  us  slaves.  One  day 
he  sent  me  to  trim  the  boat,  as  he  had  two  friends 
who  would  go  out  in  it  to  fish  with  him.  But 
when  the  time  came  they  did  not  go,  so  he  sent 
me  with  the  man  and  the  boy — whose  name  was 
Xu-ry — to  catch  some  fish  for  the  guests  that  were 
to  sup  with  him. 

Now  the  thought  ^struck  me  all  at  once  that 
this  would  be  a  good  chance  to  set  off  with  the 
boat,  and  get  free.  So  in  the  first  place  I  took 
all  the  food  that  I  could  lay  my  hands  on,  and  I 
told  the  man  that  it  would  be  too  bold  of  us  to 
eat  of  the  bread  that  had  been  put  in  the  boat  for 
the  Turk.  He  said  he  thought  so,  too,  and  he 
brought  down  a  small  sack  of  rice  and  some 
rusks. 


1 8  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

While  the  man  was  on  shore  I  put  up  some 
wine,  a  large  lump  of  wax,  a  saw,  an  axe,  a  spade, 
some  rope,  and  all  sorts  of  things  that  might  be 
of  use  to  us.  I  knew  where  the  Turk's  case  of 
wine  was,  and  I  put  that  in  the  boat  while  the 
man  was  on  shore.  By  one  more  trick  I  got  all 
that  I  had  need  of.  I  said  to  the  boy,  "The 
Turk's  guns  are  in  the  boat,  but  there  is  no  shot. 
Do  you  think  you  could  get  some?  You  know 
where  it  is  kept,  and  we  may  want  to  shoot  a  fowl 
or  two."  So  he  brought  a  case  and  a  pouch 
which  held  all  that  we  could  want  for  the  guns. 
These  I  put  in  the  boat,  and  then  set  sail  out  of 
the  port  to  fish. 

The  wind  blew  from  the  north,  or  northwest, 
which  was  a  bad  wind  for  me ;  for  had  it  been 
south,  I  could  have  made  for  the  coast  of  Spain. 
But,  blow  which  way  it  might,  my  mind  wras  made 
up  to  get  off,  and  to  leave  the  rest  to  fate.  I  then 
let  down  my  lines  to  fish,  but  I  took  care  to  have 
bad  sport ;  and  when  the  fish  bit  I  would  not  pull 
them  up,  for  the  Moor  was  not  to  see  them.  I 
said  to  him,  "This  will  not  do;  wc  shall  catch  no 
fish  here;  we  ought  to  sail  on  a  bit"     Well,  the 


IF  YOU  COME  NEAR  THE  BOAT  I  WILL  SHOOT  YOU. 


IS 


20  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

Moor  thought  there  was  no  harm  in  this.  He 
set  the  sails,  and,  as  the  helm  was  in  my  hands, 
I  ran  the  boat  out  a  mile  or  more,  and  then 
brought  her  to,  as  if  I  meant  to  fish. 

Now,  thought  I,  the  time  has  come  for  me  to 
get  free ;  so  I  gave  the  helm  to  the  boy,  and  then 
took  the  Moor  round  the  waist,  and  threw  him 
out  of  the  boat. 

Down  he  went!  but  soon  rose  up,  for  he 
swam  like  a  duck.  He  said  he  would  go  all 
around  the  world  with  me,  If  I  would  but  take 
him  in. 

I  had  some  fear  lest  he  should  climb  up  the 
boat's  side,  and  force  his  way  back;  so  I  brought 
my  gun  to  point  at  him,  and  said,  "You  can 
swim  to  land  with  ease  if  you  choose ;  make  haste 
then  to  get  there ;  but  if  you  come  near  the  boat 
you  shall  have  a  shot  through  the  head,  for  I 
mean  to  be  a  free  man  from  this  hour." 

He  then  swam  for  the  shore,  and  no  doubt 
got  safe  there,  as  the  sea  was  so  calm. 

At  first  I  thought  I  would  take  the  Moor  with 
me,  and  let  Xu-ry  swim  to  land ;  but  the  Moor 
was  not  a  man  that  I  could  trust. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  21 

When  he  was  gone  I  said  to  Xu-ry,  "If  you 
will  swear  to  be  true  to  me,  you  shall  be  a  great 
man  in  time ;  If  not,  I  must  throw  you  out  of 
the  boat,  too." 

The  poor  boy  gave  me  such  a  sweet  smile  as 
he  swore  to  be  true  to  me,  that  I  could  not  find 
it  in  my  heart  to  doubt  him. 

While  the  man  was  still  in  view  (for  he  was 
on  his  way  to  the  land),  we  stood  out  to  sea 
with  the  boat,  so  that  he  and  those  that  saw  us 
from  the  shore,  might  think  we  had  gone  to  the 
strait's  mouth,  for  no  one  went  to  the  south 
coast,  as  a  tribe  of  men  dwelt  there  who  were 
known  to  kill  and  eat  their  foes. 

We  then  bent  our  course  to  the  east,  so  as  to 
keep  in  with  the  shore  ;  and  as  we  had  a  fair 
wind  and  a  smooth  sea,  by  the  next  day  at  noon 
we  were  a  long  way  off,  and  quite  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  Turk. 

I  had  still  some  fear  lest  I  should  be  caught 
by  the  Moors,  so  I  would  not  go  on  shore  in  the 
day  time.  But  when  it  grew  dusk  we  made  our 
way  to  the  coast,  and  came  to  the  mouth  of  a 
stream,  from  which  we  thought  we  would  swim 

l — Crusoe,  Oh*  Syl. 


22  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

to  land,  and  then  look  around  us.  But  as  soon 
as  it  was  quite  dark  we  heard  strange  sounds — 
barks,  roars,  grunts,  and  howls.  The  poor  lad 
said  he  could  not  go  on  shore  till  dawn. 
"  Well,"  said  I,  "then  we  must  give  it  up,  but  it 
may  be  that  in  the  day  time  we  shall  be  seen  by 
men,  who  for  all  we  know  would  do  us  more 
harm  than  wild  beasts."  "Then  we  give  them 
the  shoot  gun,"  said  Xu-ry  with  a  laugh,  "and 
make  them  run  way." 

I  was  glad  to  see  so  much  mirth  in  the  boy, 
and  gave  him  some  bread  and  rice. 

We  lay  still  at  night,  but  did  not  sleep  long, 
for  in  a  few  hours'  time  some  huge  beasts  came 
down  to  the  sea  to  bathe.  The  poor  boy  shook 
from  head  to  foot  at  the  sight.  One  of  these 
beasts  came  near  our  boat,  and  though  it  was 
too  dark  to  see  him  well,  we  heard  him  puff  and 
blow,  and  knew  that  he  must  be  a  large  one  by 
the  noise  he  made.  At  last  the  brute  came  as 
near  to  the  boat  as  two  oars'  length,  so  I  shot  at 
him  and  he  swam  to  the  shore. 

The  roar  and  cries  set  up  by  beasts  and  birds 
at  the  noise  of  my  gun  would  seem  to  show  that 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  23 

we  had  made  a  bad  choice  of  a  place  to  land  on  ; 


WE  WENT  TO  THE  SPRINGS  TO  FILL  OUR  JARS. 

but  be  that  as  it  would,  to  shore  we  had  to  go  to 
find  some  fresh  spring,  so  that  we  might  fill  our 


24  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

casks.  Xu-ry  said  if  I  would  let  him  go  with  one 
of  the  jars,  he  would  find  out  if  the  springs  were 
fit  to  drink  ;  and,  if  they  were  sweet,  he  would 
bring  the  jar  back  full.  "  Why  should  you  go  ?" 
said  I  ;  "  why  should  not  I  go,  and  you  stay  in 
the  boat?"  At  this  Xu-ry  said,  "  If  the  wild 
mans  come  they  eat  me  ;  you  go  way."  I  could 
not  but  love  the  lad  for  this  kind  speech. 
"Well,"  said  I,  "we  will  both  go,  and  if  the 
wild  men  come  we  must  kill  them  ;  they  shall 
not  eat  you  or  me." 

I  gave  Xu-ry  some  rum  from  the  Turk's  case 
to  cheer  him  up,  and  we  went  on  shore.  The 
boy  went  off  with  his  gun,  full  a  mile  from  the 
spot  where  we  stood,  and  came  back  with  a  hare 
that  he  had  shot,  which  we  were  glad  to  cook  and 
eat;  but  the  good  news  which  he  brought  was 
that  he  had  found  a  spring,  and  had  seen  no 
wild  men. 

I  made  a  guess  that  the  Cape  de  Verde  Isles 
were  not  far  off,  for  I  saw  the  top  of  the  Great 
Peak,  which  I  knew  was  near  them.  My  one 
hope  was  that  if  I  kept  near  the  coast,  I  should 
find  some  ship  that  would  take  us  on  board ;  and 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  25 

then,  and  not  till  then,  should  I  feel  a  free  man. 
In  a  word,  I  put  the  whole  of  my  fate  on  this 
chance,  that  I  must  meet  with  some  ship,  or  die. 

On  the  coast  we  saw  some  men  who  stood 
to  look  at  us.  They  were  black,  and  wore  no 
clothes.  I  would  have  gone  on  shore  to  them, 
but  Xu-ry — who  knew  best — said,  "Not  you  go! 
Not  you  go!"  So  I  brought  the  boat  as  near 
the  land  as  I  could,  that  I  might  talk  to  them, 
and  they  kept  up  with  me  a  long  way.  I  saw 
that  one  of  them  had  a  lance  in  his  hand. 

I  made  signs  that  they  should  bring  me  some 
food,  and  they  on  their  part  made  signs  for  me  to 
stop  my  boat.  So  I  let  down  the  top  of  my  sail, 
and  lay  by,  while  two  of  them  ran  off;  and  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  they  came  back  with  some 
dry  meat  and  a  sort  of  corn  which  is  grown  in 
this  part  of  the  world.  This  we  should  have 
been  glad  to  get,  but  knew  not  how  to  do  so  ; 
for  we  durst  not  go  on  shore  to  them,  nor  did 
they  dare  to  come  to  us. 

At  last  they  took  a  safe  way  for  us  all,  for 
they  brought  the  food  to  the  shore,  where  they 
set  it  down,  and  then  went  a  long  way  off  while 


-i6  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

we  took  it  in.  We  made  signs  to  show  our 
thanks,  for  we  had  not  a  thing  that  we  could 
spare  to  give  them.  But  as  good  luck  would 
have  it,  we  were  at  hand  to  take  a  great  prize 
for  them  ;  for  two  wild  beasts,,  of  the  same  kind 
as  the  first  I  spoke  of,  came  in  full  chase  from 
the  hills  clown  to  the  sea. 

They  swam  as  if  they  had  come  for  sport. 
The  men  flew  from  them  in  fear,  all  but  the  one 
who  held  the  lance.  One  of  these  beasts  came 
near  our  boat  ;  so  I  lay  in  wait  for  him  with  my 
gun  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  brute  was  in  range,  I 
shot  him  through  the  head.  Twice  he  sank  down 
in  the  sea,  and  twice  he  came  up  ;  and  then  just 
swam  to  the  land,  where  he  fell  down  dead. 
The  men  were  in  as  much  fear  at  the  sound  of 
my  gun  as  they  had  been  at  the  sight  of  the 
beasts.  But  when  I  made  signs  for  them  to  come 
to  the  shore,  they  took  heart,  and  came. 

They  at  once  made  for  their  prize  ;  and  by 
the  help  of  a  rope,  which  they  slung  round  him, 
they  brought  him  safe  on  the  beach. 

We  now  left  our  wild  men,  and  went  on  and 
on,  for  twelve  days  more.     The  land  in  front  of 


mss 


XU-RY  FINDS  BIG  GAME. 


*7 


28  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

us  ran  out  four  or  five  miles,  like  a  bill ;  and  we 
had  to  keep  some  way,  from  the  coast  to  make 
this  point,  so  that  we  lost  sight  of  the  shore. 

I  gave  the  helm  to  Xu-ry,  and  sat  down  to 
think  what  would  be  my  best  course  to  take ; 
when  all  at  once  I  heard  the  lad  cry  out,  "A  ship 
with  a  sail!  A  ship  with  a  sail!"  He  did  not 
show  much  joy  at  the  sight,  for  he  thought  that 
this  ship  had  been  sent  out  to  take  him  back ;  but 
I  knew  well,  from  the  look  of  her,  that  she  was 
not  one  of  the  Turk's. 

I  made  all  the  sail  I  could  to  come  in  the 
ship's  way,  and  told  Xu-ry  to  fire  a  gun,  in  the 
hope  that  if  those  on  deck  could  not  hear  the 
sound,  they  might  see  the  smoke.  This  they  did 
see,  and  then  let  down  their  sails  so  that  we 
might  come  up  to  them,  and  in  three  hours'  time 
we  were  at  the  ship's  side.  The  men  spoke  to  us 
in  French,  but  I  could  not  make  out  what  they 
meant.  At  last  a  Scot  on  board  said  in  my  own 
tongue,  "Who  are  you?  Whence  do  you  come?" 
I  told  him  in  a  few  words  how  I  had  got  free  from 
the  Moors. 

Then  the  man  who  had  charge   of  the   ship 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  29 

bade  me  come  on  board,  and  took  me  in,  with 
Xu-ry  and  all  my  goods.  I  told  him  that  he 
might  take  all  I  had;  but  he  said,  "You  shall 
have  your  goods  back  when  we  come  to  land,  for 
I  have  but  done  for  you  what  you  would  have 
done  for  me,  had  I  been  in  the  same  plight." 

He  gave  me  a  good  round  sum  for  my  boat 
and  said  that  I  should  have  the  same  sum  for 
Xu-ry,  if  I  would  part  with  him.  But  I  told  him 
that  as  it  was  by  the  boy's  help  that  I  had  got 
free,  I  was  loth  to  sell  him.  He  said  it  was  just 
and  right  in  me  to  feel  thus,  but  at  the  same 
time,  if  I  could  make  up  my  mind  to  part  with 
him,  he  should  be  set  free  in  two  years'  time. 
So,  as  the  poor  slave  had  a  wish  to  go  with  him, 
I  did  not  say  no.  I  got  to  All  Saints'  Bay  in 
three  weeks,  and  was  now  a  free  man. 

I  had  made  a  good  sum  by  all  my  store,  and 
with  this  I  went  on  land.  But  I  did  not  at  all 
know  what  to  do  next.  At  length  I  met  with  a 
man  whose  case  was  much  the  same  as  my  own, 
and  we  both  took  some  land  to  farm.  My  stock, 
like  his,  was  low,  but  we  made  our  farms  serve  to 
keep  us  in  food,  though  not  more  than  that.    We 


30  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

both  stood  in  need  of  help,  and  I  saw  now  that 
I  had  done  wrong  to  part  with  my  boy. 

I  did  not  at  all  like  this  kind  of  life.  What! 
thought  I,  have  I  come  all  this  way  to  do  that 
which  I  could  have  done  as  well  at  home  with  my 
friends  round  me  ?  And  to  add  to  my  grief,  the 
kind  friend  who  had  brought  me  here  in  his  ship, 
now  meant  to  leave  these  shores. 

On  my  first  start  to  sea  when  a  boy,  I  had 
put  a  small  sum  in  the  hands  of  an  aunt,  and  this 
my  friend  said  I  should  do  well  to  spend  on  my 
farm.  So  when  he  got  home  he  sent  some  of  it 
in  cash,  and  laid  out  the  rest  in  cloth,  stuffs,  baize, 
and  such  like  goods.  My  aunt  had  put  a  ftw 
pounds  in  my  friend's  hands  as  a  gift  to  him,  to 
show  her  thanks  for  all  that  he  had  done  for  me, 
and  with  this  sum  he  was  so  kind  as  to  buy  me  a 
slave.  In  the  mean  time  I  had  bought  a  slave, 
so  now  I  had  two,  and  all  went  on  well  for  the 
next  year. 

But  soon  my  plans  grew  too  large  for  my 
means.  One  day  some  men  came  to  ask  me  to 
take  charge  of  a  slave  ship  to  be  sent  out  by 
them.     They  said  they  would  give  me  a  share  in 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


31 


the  slaves,  and  pay  the  cost  of   the  stock.     This 
would  have  been  a  good  thing  for  me  if   I   had 


I  BOUGHT  ME  A  BLACK  SLAVE. 


not  had  farms  and  land ;  but  it  was  wild  and  rash 
to  think  of  it  now,  for  I  had  made  a  large  sum, 


32  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

and  ought  to  have  gone  on  in  the  same  way  for 
three  or  four  years  more.  Well,  I  told  these  men 
that  I  would  go  with  all  my  heart,  if  they  would 
look  to  my  farm  in  the  mean  time,  which  they 
said  they  would  do. 

So  I  made  my  will,  and  went  on  board  this 
ship  on  the  same  day  on  which,  eight  years  since, 
I  had  left  Hull.  She  had  six  guns,  twelve  men, 
and  a  boy.  We  took  with  us  saws,  chains,  toys, 
beads,  bits  of  glass,  and  such  like  ware,  to  suit 
the  taste  of  those  with  whom  we  had  to  trade. 

We  were  not  more  than  twelve  days  from  the 
Line,  when  a  high  wind  took  us  off  we  knew  not 
where.  All  at  once  there  was  a  cry  of  "Land!" 
and  the  ship  struck  on  a  bank  of  sand,  in  which 
she  sank  so  deep  that  we  could  not  get  her  off. 
At  last  we  found  that  we  must  make  up  our 
minds  to  leave  her,  and  get  to  shore  as  well  as 
we  could.  There  had  been  a  boat  at  her  stern, 
but  we  found  it  had  been  torn  off  by  the  force  of 
the  waves.  One  small  boat  was  still  left  on  the 
ship's  side,  so  we  got  in  it. 

There  we  were  all  of  us  on  the  wild  sea.  The 
heart  of  each  now  grew  faint,  our  cheeks  were 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


33 


pale,  and  our  eyes  were  dim,  for  there  was  but 
one  hope,  and  that  was  to  find  some  bay,  and  so 
get  in  the  lee  of  the  land.  We  now  gave  up  our 
whole  souls  to  God. 

The  sea  grew  more  and  more  rough,  and   its 


V'i'   i-v'.'.-.-i-iW 


WE  WENT  TO  OUR  RUIN  WITH  OUR  OWN  HANDS. 

white  foam  would  curl  and  boil.  At  last  the 
waves,  in  their  wild  sport,  burst  on  the  boat's 
side,  and  we  were  all  thrown  out. 

I  could  swim  well,  but  the  force  of  the  waves 
made  me  lose  my  breath  too  much  to  do  so.     At 


34  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

length  one  large  wave  took  me  to  the  shore,  and 
left  me  high  and  dry,  though  half  dead  with  fear. 
I  got  on  my  feet  and  made  the  best  of  my  way 
for  the  land;  but  just  then  the  curve  of  a  huge 
wave  rose  up  as  high  as  a  hill,  and  this  I  had  no 
strength  to  keep  from,  so  it  took  me  back  to  the 
sea.  I  did  my  best  to  float  on  the  top,  and  held 
my  breath  to  do  so.  The  next  wave  was  quite  as 
high,  and  shut  me  up  in  its  bulk.  I  held  my 
hands  down  tight  to  my  side,  and  then  my  head 
shot  out  at  the  top  of  the  waves.  This  gave  me 
heart  and  breath,  too,  and  soon  my  feet  felt  the 
ground. 

I  stood  quite  still  for  a  short  time,  to  let  the 
sea  run  back  from  me,  and  then  I  set  off  with  all 
my  might  to  the  shore,  but  yet  the  waves  caught 
me,  and  twice  more  did  they  take  me  back,  and 
twice  more  land  me  on  the  shore.  I  thought  the 
last  wave  would  have  been  the  death  of  me,  for  it 
drove  me  on  a  piece  of  rock,  and  with  such  force 
as  to  leave  me  in  a  kind  of  swoon,  which,  thank 
God,  did  not  last  long.  At  length,  to  my  great 
joy,  I  got  up  to  the  cliffs  close  to  the  shore,  where 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


35 


I  found  some  grass,  out  of  the  reach  of  the  sea. 
There  I  sat  down,  safe  on  land  at  last. 

I  could  but  cry  out  in  the  words  of  the  Psalm, 
"They  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  these 


X 


SAFE  ON  LAND  AT  LAST. 


men  see  the  works  of  the  Lord  in  the  deep. 
For  at  His  word  the  storms  rise,  the  winds  blow, 
and  lift  up  the  waves ;  then  do  they  mount  to  the 
sky,  and  from  thence  go  down  to  the  deep.  My 
soul  faints,  I  reel  to  and  fro,  and  am  at  my  wit's 


36  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

ends ;    then   the   Lord  brings   me  out  of  all   my 
fears." 

I  felt  so  wrapt  in  joy,  that  all  I  could  do  was 
to  walk  up  and  down  the  coast,  now  lift  up  my 
hands,  now  fold  them  on  my  breast  and  thank 
God  for  all  that  He  had  done  for  me,  when  the 
rest  of  the  men  were  lost.  All  lost  but  I,  and 
I  was  safe !  I  now  cast  my  eyes  round  me,  to 
find  out  what  kind  of  a  place  it  was  that  I  had 
been  thus  thrown  in,  like  a  bird  in  a  storm.  Then 
all  the  glee  I  felt  at  first  left  me ;  for  I  was  wet 
and  cold,  and  had  no  dry  clothes  to  put  on,  no 
food  to  eat,  and  not  a  friend  to  help  me. 

There  were  wild  beasts  here,  but  I  had  no 
gun  to  shoot  them  with,  or  to  keep  me  from 
their  jaws.     I  had  but  a  knife  and  a  pipe. 

It  now  grew  dark ;  and  where  was  I  to  go 
for  the  night?  I  thought  the  top  of  some  high 
tree  would  be  a  good  place  to  keep  me  out  of 
harm's  way;  and  that  there  I  might  sit  and  think 
of  death,  for,  as  yet,  I  had  no  hopes  of  life. 
Well,  I  went  to  my  tree,  and  made  a  kind  of 
nest  to  sleep  in.  Then  I  cut  a  stick  to  keep  off 
the  beasts  of  prey,  in  case  they  should  come,  and 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


Mh:k, 


ff 


tmmimm 


fell  to  sleep  just 
as  if  the  branch 
I  lay  on  had 
been  a  bed  of 
down. 

When  I  woke 
up  it  was  broad  day ; 
the  sky,  too,  was  clear 
and  the  sea  calm.  But 
I  saw  from  the  top  of 
the  tree  that  in  the 
night  the  ship  had  left 


38  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

the  bank  of  sand,  and  lay  but  a  mile  from  me ; 
while  the  boat  was  on  the  beach,  two  miles 
on  my  right.  I  went  some  way  down  by  the 
shore,  to  get  to  the  boat ;  but  an  arm  of  the  sea, 
half  a  mile  broad,  kept  me  from  it.  At  noon, 
the  tide  went  a  long  way  out,  so  that  I  could  get 
near  the  ship  ;  and  here  I  found  that  if  we  had 
but  made  up  our  minds  to  stay  on  board,  we 
should  all  have  been  safe. 

I  shed  tears  at  the  thought,  for  I  could  not 
help  it ;  yet,  as  there  was  no  use  in  that,  it  struck 
me  that  the  best  thing  for  me  to  do  was  to  swim 
to  the  ship.  I  soon  threw  off  my  clothes,  took 
to  the  sea,  and  swam  up  to  the  wreck.  But  how 
was  I  to  get  on  deck  ?  I  had  swum  twice  round 
the  ship,  when  a  piece  of  rope  caught  my  eye, 
which  hung  down  from  her  side  so  low,  that  at 
first  the  waves  hit  it.  By  the  help  of  this  rope  I 
got  on  board. 

I  found  that  there  was  a  bulge  in  the  ship, 
and  that  she  had  sprung  a  leak.  You  may  be 
sure  that  my  first  thought  was  to  look  around  for 
some  food,  and  I  soon  made  my  way  to  the  bin 
where  the  bread  was  kept,  and  ate  some  of  it  as 


I  SWAM  TO  THE  WRECK. 


39 


40  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

I  went  to  and  fro,  for  there  was  no  time  to  lose. 
There  was,  too,  some  rum,  of  which  I  took  a 
good  draught,  and  this  gave  me  heart.  What  I 
stood  most  in  need  of  was  a  boat  to  take  the 
goods  to  shore.  But  it  was  vain  to  wish  for 
that  which  could  not  be  had  ;  and  as  there  were 
some  spare  yards  in  the  ship,  two  or  three  large 
planks  of  wood,  and  a  spare  mast  or  two,  I  fell 
to  work  with  these  to  make  a  raft. 

I  put  four  spars  side  by  side,  and  laid  short 
bits  of  plank  on  them,  cross-ways,  to  make  my 
raft  strong.  Though  these  planks  would  bear 
my  own  weight,  they  were  too  slight  to  bear 
much  of  my  freight.  So  I  took  a  saw  which  was 
on  board,  and  cut  a  mast  in  three  lengths,  and 
these  gave  great  strength  to  the  raft.  I  found 
some  bread  and  rice,  a  Dutch  cheese,  and  some 
dry  goat's  flesh.  There  had  been  some  wheat, 
but  the  rats  had  got  at  it,  and  it  was  all  gone. 

My  next  task  was  to  screen  my  goods  from 
the  spray  of  the  sea ;  and  it  did  not  take  me  long 
to  do  this,  for  there  were  three  large  chests  on 
board  which  held  all,  and  these  I  put  on  the  raft. 
When  the  high  tide  came  up  it  took  off  my  coat 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  41 

and  shirt,  which  I   had    left  on    the   shore ;   but 
there  were  some  fresh  clothes  in  the  ship. 

"See,  here  is  a  prize!"  said  I,  out  loud 
(though  there  were  none  to  hear  me) ;  "  now  I 
shall  not  starve."  For  I  found  four  large  guns. 
But  how  was  my  raft  to  be  got  to  land  ?  I  had 
no  sail,  no  oars ;  and  a  gust  of  wind  would  make 
all  my  store  slide,  off.  Yet  there  were  three 
things  which  I  was  glad  of — a  calm  sea,  a  tide 
which  set  in  to  the  shore,  and  a  slight  breeze  to 
blow  me  there. 

I  had  the  good  luck  to  find  some  oars  in  a 
part  of  the  ship  in  which  I  had  made  no  search 
till  now.  With  these  I  put  to  sea,  and  for  half 
a  mile  my  raft  went  well ;  but  soon  I  found  it 
drove  to  one  side.  At  length  I  saw  a  creek,  up 
which,  with  some  toil,  I  took  my  raft ;  and  now 
the  beach  was  so  near,  that  I  felt  my  oar  touch 
the  ground. 

Here  I  had  well  nigh  lost  my  freight,  for  the 
shore  lay  on  a  slope,  so  that  there  was  no  place 
to  land  on,  save  where  one  end  of  the  raft  would 
lie  so  high,  and  one  end  so  low,  that  all  my 
goods  would  fall  off.     To  wait  till  the  tide  came 


42  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

up  was  all  that  could  be  done.  Sc,  when  the 
sea  was  a  foot  deep,  I  thrust  the  raft  on  a  flat 
piece  of  ground,  to  moor  her  there,  and  stuck 
my  two  oars  in  the  sand,  one- on  each  side  of  the 
raft.  Thus  I  let  her  lie,  till  the  ebb  of  the  tide, 
and  when  it  went  down,  she  was  left  safe  on  land 
with  all  her  freight. 

I  saw  that  there  were  birds  on  the  isle,  and  I 
shot  one  of  them.  Mine  must  have  been  the  first 
gun  that  had  been  heard  there  since  the  world 
was  made ;  for,  at  the  sound  of  it,  whole  flocks  of 
flirds  flew  up,  with  loud  cries,  from  all  parts  of 
the  wood.  The  shape  of  the  beak  of  the  one  I 
shot  was  like  that  of  a  hawk,  but  the  claws  were 
not  so  large. 

I  now  went  back  to  my  raft  to  land  my 
stores,  and  this  took  up  the  rest  of  the  day.  What 
to  do  at  night  I  knew  not,  nor  where  to  find  a 
safe  place  to  land  my  stores  on.  I  did  not  like 
to  lie  down  on  the  ground,  for  fear  of  beasts  of 
prey,  as  well  as  snakes,  but  there  was  no  cause 
for  these  fears,  as  I  have  since  found.  I  put  the 
chests  and  boards  round  me  as  well  as  I  could, 
and  made  a  kind  of  hut  for  the  night 


WHOLE  FLOCKS  OF  BIRDS  FLEW  UP. 


43 


44  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

As  there  was  still  a  great  store  of  things  left 
in  the  ship,  which  would  be  of  use  to  me,  I 
thought  that  I  ought  to  bring  them  to  land  at 
once ;  for  I  knew  that  the  first  storm  would 
break  up  the  ship.  So  I  went  on  board,  and 
took  good  care  this  time  not  to  load  my  raft  too 
much. 

The  first  thing  I  sought  for  was  the  tool 
chest ;  and  in  it  were  some  bags  of  nails,  spikes, 
saws,  knives,  and  such  things  ;  but  best  of  all, 
I  found  a  stone  to  grind  my  tools  on.  There 
were  two  or  three  flasks,  some  large  bags  of 
shot,  and  a  roll  of  lead ;  but  this  last  I  had  not 
the  strength  to  hoist  up  the  ship's  side,  so  as  to 
get  it  on  my  raft.  There  were  some  spare  sails, 
too,  which  I  brought  to  shore. 

I  had  some  fear  lest  my  stores  might  be  run 
off  with  by  beasts  of  prey,  if  not  by  men ;  but  I 
found  all  safe  and  sound  when  I  went  back,  and 
no  one  had  come  there  but  a  wild-cat,  which  sat 
on  one  of  the  chests.  When  I  came  up  I  held 
my  gun  at  her,  but  as  she  did  not  know  what  a 
gun  was,  this  did  not  rouse  her.  She  ate  a  piece 
of  dry  goat's  flesh,  and  then  took  her  leave. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  45 

Now  that  I  had  two  freights  of  goods  on 
hand,  I  made  a  tent  with  the  ship's  sails,  to 
stow  them  in,  and  cut  the  poles  for  it  from  the 
wood.  I  now  took  all  the  things  out  of  the 
casks  and  chests,  and  put  the  casks  in  piles 
round  the  tent,  to  give  it  strength  ;  and  when 
this  was  done,  I  shut  up  the  door  with  the 
boards,  spread  one  of  the  beds  (which  I  had 
brought  from  the  ship)  on  the  ground,  laid  two 
guns  close  to  my  head,  and  went  to  bed  for  the 
first  time.  I  slept  all  night,  for  I  was  much  in 
need  of  rest. 

The  next  day  I  was  sad  and  sick  at  heart, 
for  I  felt  how  dull  it  was  to  be  thus  cut  off  from 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  !  I  had  no  great  wish 
for  work  :  but  there  was  too  much  to  be  done 
for  me  to  dwell  long  on  my  sad  lot.  Each  day, 
as  it  came,  I  went  off  to  the  wreck  to  fetch  more 
things ;  and  I  brought  back  as  much  as  the  raft 
would  hold.  One  day  I  had  put  too  great  a 
load  on  the  raft,  which  made  it  sink  down  on 
one  side,  so  that  the  goods  were  lost  in  the  sea; 
but  at  this  I  did  not  fret,  as  the  chief  part  of  the 


46  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

freight  was  some  rope,  which  would  not  have 
been  of  much  use  to  me. 

The  twelve  days  that  I  had  been  in  the  isle 
were  spent  in  this  way,  and  I  had  brought  to 
land  all  that  one  pair  of  hands  could  lift ;  though 
if  the  sea  had  been  still  calm,  I  might  have 
brought  the  whole  ship,  piece  by  piece. 

The  last  time  I  swam  to  the  wreck,  the  wind 
blew  so  hard,  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  on 
board  next  time  at  low  tide.  I  found  some  tea 
and  some  gold  coin ;  but  as  to  the  gold,  it  made 
me  laugh  to  look  at  it.  "O  drug!"  said  I,  "thou 
art  of  no  use  to  me !  I  care  not  to  save  thee. 
Stay  where  thou  art  till  the  ship  goes  down; 
then  go  thou  with  it!" 

Still,  I  thought  I  might  as  well  just  take  it ; 
so  I  put  it  in  a  piece  of  the  sail,  and  threw  it  on 
deck  that  I  might  place  it  on  the  raft.  By-and- 
by,  the  wind  blew  from  the  shore,  so  I  had  to 
swim  back  with  all  speed ;  for  I  knew  that  at  the 
turn  of  the  tide  I  should  find  it  hard  work  to  get 
to  land  at  all.  But  in  spite  of  the  high  wind,  I 
came  to  my  home  all  safe.  At  dawn  of  day  I 
put  my  head  out,  and   cast  my  eyes  on  the  sea, 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


47 


THE  KID  RAN  BY  MY  SIDE. 


when  lo !  no  ship  was 
there !  This  change  in 
the  face  of  things,  and 
the  loss  of  such  a  friend, 
quite  struck  me  down. 
Yet  I  was  glad  to  think 
that  I  had  brought  to 
shore  all  that  could  be  of 
use  to  me.  I  had  now 
to  look  out  for  some  spot 
where  I 
!  could  make 

my  home. 
Half  way  up  the 
hill  there  was  a 
small  plain,  four  or 
five  score  feet  long, 
and  twice  as  broad  ; 
and  as  it  had  a  full 
view  of  the  sea,  I 
thought  that  it 
would  be  a  good 
place  for  my  house. 
I     first    dug    a 


48  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

trench  round  a  space  which  took  in  twelve  yards ; 
and  in  this  I  drove  two  rows  of  stakes,  till  they 
stood  firm  like  piles,  five  and  a  half  feet  from  the 
ground.  I  made  the  stakes  close  and  tight  with 
bits  of  rope,  and  put  small  sticks  on  the  top  of 
them  in  the  shape  of  spikes.  This  made  so 
strong  a  fence  that  no  man  or  beast  could  get  in. 

The  door  of  my  house  was  on  top,  and  I  had 
to  climb  up  to  it  by  steps,  which  I  took  in  with 
me,  so  that  no  one  else  might  come  up  by  the 
same  way.  Close  to  the  back  of  the  house  stood 
a  high  rock,  in  which  I  made  a  cave,  and  laid  all 
the  earth  that  I  had  dug  out  of  it  round  my 
house,  to  the  height  of  a  foot  and  a  half.  I  had 
to  go  out  once  a  day  in  search  of  food.  The  first 
time,  I  saw  some  goats,  but  they  were  too  shy 
and  swift  of  foot  to  let  me  get  near  them. 

At  last  I  lay  in  wait  for  them  close  to 
their  own  haunts.  If  they  saw  me  in  the  vale, 
though  they  might  be  on  high  ground,  they 
would  run  off,  wild  with  fear  ;  but  if  they  were 
in  the  vale,  and  I  on  high  ground,  they  took 
no  heed  of  me.  The  first  goat  I  shot  had 
a    kid    by    her    side,    and    when    the    old    one 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


49 


fell,  the  kid  stood  near  her,   till   I  took  her   off 
on    my    back, 
and  the  young 
one  ran  by  my 


side.  I  put 
down  the 
goat,  and 
brought 
the  kid 
home  to 
tame  it ; 
but  as  it 
w  as  too 
young    to 


f  feed    I    had 
to  kill  it. 

At  first  I 

thought  that, 

for  the   lack 

of  pen    and    ink,    I 

should  lose  all  note 

of  time  ;  so  I  made  a 

large 


50  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

which  I  cut  these  words:  "I  came  on  these 
shores  on  the  8th  day  of  June,  in  the  year  1659." 
On  the  side  of  this  post  I  made  a  notch  each 
day  as  it  came,  and  this  I  kept  up  till  the  last. 

I  have  not  yet  said  a  word  of  my  four  pets, 
which  were  two  cats,  a  dog  and  a  bird.  You 
may  guess  how  fond  I  was  of  them,  for  they 
were  all  the  friends  left  to  me.  I  brought  the 
dog  and  two  cats  from  the  ship.  The  dog 
would  fetch  things  for  me  at  all  times,  and  by 
his  bark,  his  whine,  his  growl,  and  his  tricks,  he 
would  all  but  talk  to  me  ;  yet  he  could  not  give 
me  thought  for  thought. 

If  I  could  but  have  had  some  one  near  me  to 
find  fault  with,  or  to  find  fault  with  me,  what  a 
treat  it  would  have  been  !  Now  that  I  had 
brought  ink  from  the  ship,  I  wrote  down  a  sketch 
of  each  day  as  it  came  ;  not  so  much  to  leave  to 
those  who  might  read  it,  when  I  was  dead  and 
gone,  as  to  get  rid  of  my  own  thoughts,  and 
draw  me  from  the  fears  which  all  day  long  dwelt 
on  my  mind,  till  my  head  would  ache  with  the 
weight  of  them. 

I  was  a  long  way  out  of  the  course  of  ships ; 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  51 

and  oh !  how  dull  it  was  to  be  cast  on  this  lone 
spot  with  no  one  to  love,  no  one  to  make  me 
laugh,  no  one  to  make  me  weep,  no  one  to  make 
me  think.  It  was  dull  to  roam  day  by  day,  from 
the  wood  to  the  shore,  and  from  the  shore  back 
to  the  wood,  and  feed  on  my  own  thoughts  all 
the  while. 

So  much  for  the  sad  view  of  my  case ;  but 
like  most  things,  it  had  a  bright  side  as  well  as  a 
dark  one.  For  here  was  I  safe  on  land,  while  all 
the  rest  of  the  ship's  crew  were  lost.  Well, 
thought  I,  God,  who  shapes  our  ways,  and  led 
me  by  the  hand  then,  can  save  me  from  this  state 
now,  or  send  some  one  to  be  with  me.  True,  I 
am  cast  on  a  rough  and  rude  part  of  the  globe, 
but  there  are  no  beasts  of  prey  on  it  to  kill  or 
hurt  me.  God  has  sent  the  ship  so  near  to  me, 
that  I  have  got  from  it  all  things  to  meet  my 
wants  for  the  rest  of  my  days.  Let  life  be  what 
it  may,  there  is  sure  to  be  much  to  thank  God 
for.  And  I  soon  gave  up  all  dull  thoughts,  and 
did  not  so  much  as  look  out  for  a  sail. 

My  goods  from  the  wreck  had  been  in  the 
cave  for  more  than  ten  months ;  and  it  was  time 


52  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

now  to  put  them  right,  as  they  took  up  all  the 
space,  and  left  me  no  room  to  turn  in ;  so  I  made 
my  small  cave  a  large  one,  and  dug  it  out  a  long 
way  back  in  the  sand  rock.  Then  I  brought  the 
mouth  of  it  up  to  the  fence,  and  so  made  a  back 
way  to  my  house.  This  done  I  put  shelves  on 
each  side,  to  H  ^ld  my  goods,  which  made  my 
cave  look  like  a  shop  full  of  stores.  To  make 
these  shelves  I  cut  down  a  tree,  and  with  the 
help  of  a  saw,  an  axe,  a  plane,  and  some  more 
tools,  I  made  boards. 

A  chair,  and  a  desk  to  write  on,  came  next.  I 
rose  in  good  time,  and  set  to  work  till  noon,  then 
I  ate  my  meal,  then  I  went  out  with  my  gun, 
and  to  work  once  more  till  the  sun  had  set ;  and 
then  to  bed.  It  took  me  more  than  a  week  to 
change  the  shape  and  size  of  my  cave,  but  I  had 
made  it  far  too  large,  for  in  course  of  time  the 
earth  fell  in  from  the  roof;  and  had  I  been  in  it 
when  this  took  place,  I  should  have  lost  my  life. 
I  had  now  to  set  up  posts  in  my  cave,  with  planks 
on  the  top  of  them,  so  as  to  make  a  roof  of  wood. 

One  day,  when  out  with  my  gun,  I  shot  a 
wildcat,  the  skin  of  which  made  me  a  cap ;  and  I 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


53 


found  some  birds  of  the 
dove  tribe,  which  built 
their  nests  in  the  holes  of 
rocks. 

I  had  to  go  to  bed  at 

dusk,  till  I  made  a  lamp 

of  goat's  fat,  which  I  put 

in  a  clay  dish ;    and  this, 

with    a    piece    of 

,y   hemp  for  a  wick, 

made    a 

good 
light.   As 
I       had 
f  o  u  n  d   a 
use    for 
the  bag 
which 
had  held 
the  fowl's 
food    on 
board 
ship,     I 
shookout 


BLADES  OF  RICE,  CORN  AND  RYE  SPRANG  UP. 
4— Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


54 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


from  it  the  husks  of  corn.  This  was  just  at 
the  time  when  the  great  rains  fell,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  month,  blades  of  rice,  corn  and  rye 
sprang  up.  As  time  went  by,  and  the  grain  was 
ripe,  I  kept  it,  and  took  care  to  sow  it  each  year ; 

but  I   could 

ft 


not  boast  of 
a  crop  of 
wheat  as  will 
be  shown 
by-and-by 
f o  r  three 
years. 

A  thing 
now  took 
place  on  the 
isle,  which 
no  one  could 
have  dreamt 

of,  and  which  struck  me  down  with  fear.  It  was 
this — the  ground  shook  with  great  force,  which 
threw  down  earth  from  the  rock  with  a  loud 
crash — once  more  there  was  a  shock — and  now 
the  earth  fell  from  the  roof  of  my  cave.     The  sea 


A  KIND  OF  WILD  DOVE. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


55 


did  not  look  the  same  as  it  had   done,  for  the 
shocks  were  just  as  strong  there  as  on  land.    The 


4r^» 


I  SOW  MY  GRAIN. 


sway  of  the  earth  made  me  feel  sick;  and  there 
was  a  noise  and  a  roar  all  round  me. 


56  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

The  same  kind  of  a  shock  came  a  third 
time ;  and  when  it  had  gone  off,  I  sat  quite  still 
on  the  ground,  for  I  knew  not  what  to  do. 
Then  the  clouds  grew  dark,  the  wind  rose,  trees 
were  torn  up  by  the  roots,  the  sea  was  a  mass  of 
foam  and  froth,  and  a  great  part  of  the  isle  was 
laid  waste  with  the  storm.  I  thought  that  the 
world  had  come  to  an  end.  In  three  hours' 
time  all  was  calm ;  but  rain  fell  all  that  night 
and  a  great  part  of  the  next  day.  Now,  though 
quite  worn  out,  I  had  to  move  my  goods,  which 
were  in  the  cave,  to  some  safe  place. 

I  knew  that  tools  would  be  my  first  want, 
and  that  I  should  have  to  grind  mine  on  the 
stone,  as  they  were  blunt  and  worn  with  use. 
But  as  it  took  both  hands  to  hold  the  tool,  I 
could  not  turn  the  stone ;  so  I  made  a  wheel  by 
which  I  could  move  it  with  my  foot.  This  was 
no  small  task,  but  I  took  great  pains  with  it, 
and  at  length  it  was  done. 

The  rain  fell  for  some  days  and  a  cold  chill 
came  on  me ;  in  short,  I  was  ill.  I  had  pains 
in  my  head,  and  could  get  no  sleep  at  night,  and 
my  thoughts  were  very  wild  and  strange.      At 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


S7 


one  time  I  shook  with  cold,  and  then  a  hot  fit  came 

on,  with   faint 

sweats,    which 

would  last  six 

hours     at    a 

time.     Ill  as  I 

was,  I   had  to 

go  out  with  my 

gun    to    get 

food.    I  shot  a 

goat,  but  it  was 

a  great  toil  to 

bring  it  home, 

and  still  more 

to  cook  it. 

I  spent  the 
next  day  in 
bed,  and  felt 
half  dead  from 
thirst,  yet  too 
weak  to  stand 
up  to  get  some 
drink.  I  lay 
and   wept   like 


HE  GRINDS  HIS  TOOLS. 


a  child.     "Lord,    look    on   me! 


58  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

Lord,    look    on    me!"    would    I    cry  for   hours. 

At, last  the  fit  left  me,  and  I  slept,  and  did 
not  wake  till  dawn.  I  dreamt  that  I  lay  on  the 
ground,  and  saw  a  man  come  down  from  a  great 
black  cloud  in  a  flame  of  light.  When  he  stood 
on  the  earth,  it  shook  as  it  had  done  a  few  days 
since ;  and  all  the  world  to  me  was  full  of  fire. 
He  came  up  and  said:  "As  I  see  that  all  these 
things  have  not  brought  thee  to  pray,  now  thou 
shalt  die."  Then  I  woke  and  found  it  was  a 
dream.  Weak  and  faint,  I  was  in  dread  all  day 
lest  my  fit  should  come  on. 

Too  ill  to  get  out  with  my  gun,  I  sat  on  the 
shore  to  think,  and  thus  ran  my  thoughts  :  "What 
is  this  sea  which  is  all  round  me  ?  and  whence  is 
it?  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  hand  that 
made  it  made  the  air,  the  earth,  the  sky.  And 
who  is  that?  It  is  God,  who  hath  made  all 
things.  Well,  then,  if  God  hath  made  all  things, 
it  must  be  He  who  guides  them ;  and  if  so, 
no  one  thing  in  the  whole  range  of  His  works 
can  take  place  and  He  not  know  it.  Then  God 
must  know  how  sick  and  sad  I  am,  and  He  wills 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE.  59 

me  to  be  here.  Oh,  why  has  God  done  this  to 
me?" 

Then  some  voice  would  seem  to  say:  "Dost 
thou  ask  why  God  hath  done  this  to  thee  ?  Ask 
why  thou  wert  not  shot  by  the  Moors,  who  came 
on  board  the  ship,  and  took  the  lives  of  thy 
mates.  Ask  why  thou  wert  not  torn  by  the 
beasts  of  prey  on  the  coasts.  Ask  why  thou  didst 
not  go  down  in  the  deep  sea  with  the  rest  of  the 
crew,  but  didst  come  to  this  isle  and  art  safe." 

A  sound  sleep  then  fell  on  me,  and  when  I 
woke  it  must  have  been  three  o'clock  the  next 
day,  by  the  rays  of  the  sun ;  nay,  it  may  have 
been  more  than  that ;  for  I  think  that  this  must 
have  been  the  day  that  I  did  not  mark  on  my 
post,  as  I  have  since  found  that  there  was  one 
notch  too  few. 

I  now  took  from  my  store  the  Book  of  God's 
Word,  which  I  had  brought  from  the  wreck,  not 
one  page  of  which  I  had  as  yet  read.  My  eyes 
fell  on  five  words,  that  would  seem  to  have  been 
put  there  for  my  good  at  this  time ;  so  well  did 
they  cheer  my  faint  hopes,  and  touch  the  true 
source  of  my  fears-     They  were  these:     "I  will 


60  ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 

not  leave  thee."  And  they  have  dwelt  in  my 
heart  to  this  day.  I  laid  down  the  book,  to 
pray.  My  cry  was,  "O  Lord,  help  me  to  love 
and  learn  Thy  ways."  This  was  the  first  time  in 
all  my  life  that  I  had  felt  a  sense  that  God  was 
near,  and  heard  me.  As  for  my  dull  life  here,  it 
was  not  worth  a  thought ;  for  now  a  new 
strength  had  come  to  me,  and  there  was  a 
change  in  my  griefs,  as  well  as  in  my  joys. 

I  had  now  been  in  the  isle  twelve  months, 
and  I  thought  it  was  time  to  go  all  round  it,  in 
search  of  its  woods,  springs  and  creeks.  So  I 
set  off,  and  brought  back  with  me  limes  and 
grapes  in  their  prime,  large  and  ripe.  I  had 
hung  the  grapes  in  the  sun  to  dry,  and  in  a  few 
days'  time  went  to  fetch  them,  that  I  might  lay 
up  a  store.  The  vale,  on  the  banks  of  which 
they  grew,  was  fresh  and  green,  and  a  clear 
bright  stream  n>n  through  it,  which  gave  so  great 
a  charm  to  the  spot,  as  to  make  me  wish  to  live 
there. 

But  there  was  no  view  of  the  sea  from  this 
vale,  while  from  my  house,  no  ships  could  come 
on  my  side  of  the  isle,  and  not  be  seen  by  me ; 


E^y^^^dfetT 


IN  SEARCH  OF  WOODS,   SPRINGS  AND  CREEKS. 


6l 


62  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

yet  the  cool,  soft  banks  were  so  sweet  and  new 
to  me,  that  much  of  my  time  was  spent  there. 

In  the  first  of  the  three  years  in  which  I  had 
grown  corn,  I  had  sown  it  too  late  ;  in  the  next 
it  was  spoilt  by  the  drought ;  but  the  third  year's 
crop  had  sprung  up  well. 

I  found  that  the  hares  would  lie  in  it  night  and 
day,  for  which  there  was  no  cure  but  to  plant  a 
thick  hedge  all  round  it ;  and  this  took  me  more 
than  three  weeks  to  do.  I  shot  the  hares  in  the 
day  time ;  and  when  it  grew  dark,  I  made  fast  the 
dog's  chain  to  the  gate,  and  there  he  stood  to 
bark  all  night. 

In  a  short  time  the  corn  grew  strong,  and  at 
last  ripe ;  but,  just  as  the  hares  had  hurt  it  in  the 
blade,  so  now  the  birds  ate  it  in  the  ear.  At  the 
noise  of  my  gun,  whole  flocks  of  them  would  fly 
up  ;  and  at  this  rate  I  saw  that  there  would  be  no 
corn  left ;  so  I  made  up  my  mind  to  keep  a  look 
out  night  and  day.  I  hid  by  the  side  of  a  hedge, 
and  could  see  the  birds  sit  on  the  trees  and  watch 
and  then  come  down,  one  by  one,  as  at  first. 

Now  each  grain  of  wheat  was,  as  it  were,  a 
small  loaf  of  bread  to   me.     So  the  great  thing 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


63 


was  to  get  rid  of  these  birds.     My  plan  was  this : 

I  shot  three,  and  hung  them 

up  like  thieves,  to   scare  all 

that  came  to  the  corn  ;  and 

from  this  time,  as  long  as  the 

dead  ones  hung  here, 

not  a  bird  came  near. 

When    the   corn 


PJIm      was  ripe,  I  made 

§|M   a    scythe    out    of 

|\|     the   swords    from 

the    ship,    and 


I  FOUND  A  CREEK. 


gr    got  in  my  crop. 

Few    of   us 

think   of  the 

Big  cost  at  which  a 

I  loaf   of   bread 

f   is    made.       Of 

course,    there 

■?*  was  no  plow 

here    to    turn 

up  the  earth, 

^  and  no  spade 

to  dig  it  with, 


64  KOBINSON  CRUSO£. 

so  I  made  one  with  wood ;  but  this  was  soon 
worn  out,  and  for  want  of  a  rake,  I  made 
use  of  the  bough  of  a  tree.  When  I  had  got 
the  corn  home,  I  had  to  thresh  it,  part  the  grain 
from  the  chaff,  and  store  it  up.  Then  came  the 
want  of  a  mill  to  grind  it,  of  sieves  to  clean  it, 
and  of  yeast  to  make  bread  of  it. 

Still  my  bread  was  made,  though  I  had  no 
tools ;  and  no  one  could  say  that  I  did  not  earn 
it  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow.  When  the  rain 
kept  me  indoors,  it  was  good  fun  to  teach  my 
pet  bird  Poll  to  talk ;  but  so  mute  were  all  things 
round  me,  that  the  sound  of  my  own  voice  made 
me  start. 

My  chief  wants  now  were  jars,  pots,  cups,  and 
plates,  but  I  knew  not  how  I  could  make  them. 
At  last  I  went  in  search  of  some  clay,  and  found 
some  a  mile  from  my  house ;  but  it  was  quite  a 
joke  to  see  the  queer  shapes  and  forms  that 
I  made  out  of  it.  For  some  of  my  pots  and  jars 
were  too  weak  to  bear  their  own  weight;  and 
they  would  fall  out  .here,  and  in  there,  in  all 
sorts  of  ways ;  while  some,  when  they  were  put 
in  the  sun  to  bake,  would  crack  with  the  heat  of 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


65 


its  rays.  You  may  guess  what  my  joy  was  when 
at  last  a  pot  was  made  which  would  stand  the  heat 
of  the  fire,  so  that  I  could  boil  the  meat  for 
broth. 

The   next   thing   to  be  made  was  a  sieve,  to 


WHAT  ODD  QUEER  THINGS  I  MADE. 

part  the  grain  from  the  husks.  Goat's  hair  was 
of  no  use  to  me,  as  I  could  not  weave  or  spin ; 
so  I  made  a  shift  for  two  years,  with  a  thin  kind 
of  stuff,  which  I  brought  from  the  ship.  But  to 
grind  the  corn  with  the  stones  was  the  worst  of 
all,  such  hard  work  did  I  find  it.     To  bake  the 


66  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

bread  I  burnt  some  wood  down  to  an  ash,  which 
I  threw  on  the  hearth  to  heat  it,  and  then  set  my 
loaves  on  the  hearth,  and  in  this  way  my  bread 
was  made. 

The  next  thing  to  turn  my  thoughts  to  was 
the  ship's  boat,  which  lay  on  the  high  ridge  of 
sand,  where  it  had  been  thrust  by  the  storm 
which  had  cast  me  on  these  shores.  But  it  lay 
with  the  keel  to  the  sky,  so  I  had  to  dig  the  sand 
from  it,  and  turn  it  up  with  the  help  of  a  pole. 
When  I  had  done  this,  I  found  it  was  all  in  vain, 
for  I  had  not  the  strength  to  launch  it.  So  all  I 
could  do  now  was  to  make  a  boat  of  less  size  out 
of  a  tree  ;  and  I  found  one  that  was  just  fit  for  it, 
which  grew  not  far  from  the  shore,  but  I  could  no 
more  stir  this  than  I  could  the  ship's  boat. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  I  first  dug  the  ground 
flat  and  smooth  all  the  way  from  the  boat  to  the 
sea,  so  as  to  let  it  slide  down  ;  but  this  plan  did 
not  turn  out  well,  so  I  thought  I  would  try  a  new 
way,  which  was  to  make  a  trench,  so  as  to  bring 
the  sea  up  to  the  boat,  as  the  boat  could  not  be 
brought  to  the  sea.  But  to  do  this,  I  must  have 
dug  down  to  a  great  depth,  which  would  take  one 


I  SHOT  SOME  BIRDS. 


67 


68  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

man  some  years  to  do.  And  when  too  late,  I 
found  it  was  not  wise  to  work  out  a  scheme  till  I 
first  thought  of  the  cost  and  toil. 

"Well,"  thought  I,  "I  must  give  up  the  boat, 
and  with  it  all  my  hopes  to  leave  the  isle.  But  I 
have  this  to  think  of:  I  am  lord  of  the  whole 
isle  ;  in  fact,  a  king.  I  have  wood  with  which  I 
might  build  a  fleet,  and  grapes,  if  not  corn,  to 
freight  it  with,  though  all  my  wealth  is  but  a  few 
gold  coins."  For  these  I  had  no  sort  of  use,  and 
could  have  found  it  in  my  heart  to  give  them  all 
for  a  peck  of  peas  and  some  ink,  which  last  I 
stood  much  in  need  of.  But  it  was  best  to  dwell 
more  on  what  I  had  than  on  what  I  had  not. 

I  now  must  needs  try  once  more  to  build  a 
boat,  but  this  time  it  was  to  have  a  mast,  for 
which  the  ship's  sails  would  be  of  great  use.  I 
made  a  deck  at  each  end  to  keep  out  the  spray 
of  the  sea,  a  bin  for  my  food,  and  a  rest  for  my 
gun,  with  a  flap  to  screen  it  from  the  wet.  More 
than  all,  the  boat  was  one  of  such  a  size  that  I 
could  launch  it. 

My  first  cruise  was  up  and  down  the  creek, 
but  soon  I  got  bold,  and  made  the  whole  round 


Robinson   Crusoe. 


"  'I    HAD   NO   SAIL.    NO   OARS. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


69 


of  my  isle.   I  took  with  me  bread,  cakes,  and  a  pot 
full   of  rice,  some  rum,   half   a    goat,    two    great 


UP  AND  DOWN  THE  CREEK. 


coats,  one  of  which  was  to  lie  on,  and  one  to  put 
on  at  night.     I  set  sail  in  the  sixth  year  of  my 


$— Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


7©  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

reign.  On  the  east  side  of  the  isle  there  was  a 
large  ridge  of  rocks  which  lay  two  miles  from  the 
shore,  and  a  shoal  of  sand  lay  for  half  a  mile  from 
the  rocks  to  the  beach.  To  get  round  to  this 
point  I  had  to  sail  a  great  way  out.  to  sea  ;  and 
here  I  all  but  lost  my  life. 

But  I  got  back  to  my  home  at  last.  On  my 
way  there,  quite  worn  out  with  the  toils  of  the 
boat,  I  lay  down  in  the  shade  to  rest  my  limbs, 
and  slept.  But  judge,  if  you  can,  what  a  start  I 
gave  when  a  voice  woke  me  out  of  my  sleep, 
and  spoke  my  name  three  times !  A  voice  in  this 
wild  place !  To  call  me  by  name,  too  !  Then  the 
voice  said,  "Where  are  you?  Where  have  you 
been?  How  came  you  here?"  But  now  I  saw 
it  all ;  for  at  the  top  of  the  hedge  sat  Poll,  who 
did  but  say  the  words  she  had  been  taught  by  me. 

I  now  went  in  search  of  some  goats,  and 
laid  snares  for  them,  with  rice  for  a  bait.  I  had 
set  the  traps  in  the  night,  and  found  they  had 
all  stood,  though  the  bait  was  all  gone.  So  I 
thought  of  a  new  way  to  take  them,  which  was 
to  make  a  pit  and  lay  sticks  and' grass  on  it,  so 
as  to  hide  it ;  and  in  this  way  I  caught  an  old 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  71 

goat  and  some  kids.     But  the  old  goat  was  much 
too   fierce   for  me,  so    I   let  him  go.  4F%- 

I  brought   all   the  young 
ones  home,  and  let  them  g£| 


I  BROIL  MY  MEAT  ON  THE  COALS. 


fast  a  long  time,  till  at  last  they  fed  from   my 
hand,  and  were  quite  tame.     I  kept  them  in  a 


72  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

kind  of  park,  in  which  there  were  trees  to  screen 
them  from  the  sun.  At  first  my  park  was  three 
miles  round ;  but  it  struck  me  that,  in  so  great  a 
space,  the  kids  would  soon  get  as  wild  as  if  they 
had  the  range  of  the  whole  vale,  and  that  it 
would  be  as  well  to  give  them  less  room ;  so  I 
had  to  make  a  hedge,  which  took  me  three 
months  to  plant.  My  park  held  a  flock  of  twelve 
goats,  and  in  two  years  more  there  were  more 
than  two  score. 

My  dog  sat  at  meals  with  me,  and  one  cat  on 
each  side  of  me,  on  stools,  and  we  had  Poll  to 
talk  to  us.  Now  for  a  word  or  two  as  to  the 
dress  in  which  I  made  a  tour  round  the  isle.  I 
could  but  think  how  droll  it  would  look  in  the 
streets  of  the  town  in  which  I  was  born.  I  wrore 
a  high  cap  of  goat's  skin,  with  a  flap  that  hung 
down,  to  keep  the  sun  and  rain  from  my  neck,  a 
coat  made  from  the  skin  of  a  goat,  too,  the 
skirts  of  which  came  down  to  my  hips,  and  the 
same  on  my  legs,  with  no  shoes,  but  flaps  of  the 
fur  round  my  shins.  I  had  a  broad  belt  of  the 
same  round  my  waist,  which  drew  on  with   two 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 


73 


thongs  ;  and  from  it,  on  my  right  side,  hung  a 
saw  and  an  axe  ;  and  on  my  left  side  a  pouch 
for  the  shot.     My  beard  had  not  been  cut  since 


I  MADE  SOME  CLOTHES. 


I  came  here.     But  no  more  need  be  said  of  my 
looks,  for  there  were  few  to  see  me. 

A  strange  sight  was  now  in  store  for  me,  which 


74 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


was  to  change  the  whole  course  of  my  life  in  the 
isle. 

One  day  at  noon,  while  on  a  stroll  down  to  a 
part  of  the  shore  that  was  new  to  me,  what 
should  I  see  on  the  sand  but  the  print  of  a  man's 

;\U 


'^llas ,  ^  ■mmmm 


n    in  til? 


M&^^S**^' 


MY  WORK  AT  DUSK. 


foot!     I  felt  as  if  I  was  bound  by  a  spell,  and 
could  not  stir  from  the  spot. 

By-and-by,  I  stole  a  look  round  me,  but  no 
one  was  in  sight.  What  could  this  mean?  I 
went  three  or  four  times  to  look  at  it.     There  it 


7^  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

was  —  the  print  of  a  man's  foot;  toes,  heel  and 
all  the  parts  of  a  foot.  How  could  it  have  come 
there  ? 

My  head  swam  with  fear;  and  as  I  left  the 
spot,  I  made  two  or  three  steps,  and  then  took  a 
look  around  me;  then  two  steps  more,  and  did 
the  same  thing,  i  I  took  fright  at  the  stump  of  an 
old  tree,  and  ran  to  my  house,  as  if  for  my  life. 
How  could  aught  in  the  shape  of  a  man  come  to 
that  shore,  and  I  not  to  know  it?  Where  was  the 
ship  that  he  came  on?  Then  a  great  dread  took 
hold  of  my  mind,  that  some  man,  or  set  of  men, 
had  found  me  out;  and  it  might  be  that  they 
meant  to  kill  me,  or  rob  me  of  all  I  had. 

How  strange  a  thing  is  the  life  of  man!  One 
day  we  love  that  which  the  next  day  we  hate. 
One  day  we  seek  what  the  next  day  we  shun. 
One  day  we  long  for  the  thing  which  the  next 
day  we  fear;  and  so  we  go  on.  Now,  from  the 
time  that  I  was  cast  on  this  isle,  my  great  cause 
of  grief  was  that  I  should  be  thus  cut  off  from 
the  rest  of  my  race.  Why,  then,  should  the 
thought  that  a  man  might  be  near  give  me  all 
this  pain?     Nay,  why  should  the  mere   sight   of 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  77 

the  print  of  a  man's  foot  make  me  quake  with 
fear?  It  seems  most  strange,  yet  not  more 
strange  than  true. 

Once  it  struck  me  that  it  might  be  the  print 
of  my  own  foot,  when  first  the  storm  cast  me  on 
these  shores.  Could  I  have  come  this  way  from 
the  boat?  Should  it  in  truth  turn  out  to  be 
the  print  of  my  own  foot  I  should  be  like  a 
boy  who  tells  of  a  ghost,  and  feels  more  fright 
at  his  own  tale  than  those  to  whom  he  meant 
to  scare. 

Fear  kept  me  indoors  for  three  days,  till  the 
want  of  food  drove  me  out.  At  last  I  was  so  bold 
as  to  go  down  to  the  coast  to  look  once  more 
at  the  print  of  the  foot,  to  see  if  it  was  the  same 
shape  as  my  own.  I  found  it  was  not  so  large  by 
a  great  deal ;  so  it  was  clear  there  were  men  in 
the  isle.  Just  at  this  time  my  good  watch  dog  fell 
down  dead  at  my  feet.  He  was  old  and  worn 
out,  and  in  him  I  lost  my  best  guard  and  friend. 

One  day  as  I  went  from  the  hill  to  the  coast, 
a  scene  lay  in  front  of  me  which  made  me  sick  at 
heart.  The  spot  was  spread  with  the  bones  of 
men.     There  was  a  round  place  dug  in  the  earth, 


78  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

where  a  fire  had  been  made,  and  here  some  men 
had  come  to  feast.  Now  that  I  had  seen  this 
sight,  I  knew  not  how  to  act ;  I  kept  close  to  my 
home,  and  would  scarce  stir  from  it  save  to  milk 
my  flock  of  goats. 

To  feel  safe  was  now  more  to  me  than  to  be 
well  fed ;  and  I  did  not  care  to  drive  a  nail,  or 
chop  a  stick  of  wood,  lest  the  sound  of  it  should 
be  heard,  much  less  would  I  fire  a  gun.  As  to 
my  bread  and  meat,  I  had  to  bake  it  at  night 
when  the  smoke  could  not  be  seen.  But  I  soon 
found  the  way  to  burn  wood  with  turf  at  the  top 
of  it,  which  made  it  like  chark  or  dry  coal ;  and 
this  I  could  use  by  day,  as  it  had  no  smoke. 

I  found  in  the  wood  where  I  went  to  get  the 
sticks  for  my  fire,  a  cave  so  large  that  I  could 
stand  in  it;  but  I  made  more  haste  to  get  out 
than  in ;  for  two  large  eyes,  as  bright  as  stars, 
shone  out  from  it  with  a  fierce  glare.  I  took  a 
torch,  and  went  to  see  what  they  could  be,  and 
found  that  there  was  no  cause  for  fear:  for  the 
eyes  were  those  of  an  old  gray  goat,  which  had 
gone  there  to  die  of  old  age.  I  gave  him  a  push, 
to  try  to  get  him  out  of  the  cave,  but  he  could 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


n 


not  rise  from  the  ground  where  he  lay;    so  I 

left  him  there  to  die,  as  I  could  not  save  his  life. 

I  found  the  width  of  the  cave  was  twelve  feet ; 


■?rzm%m& 


€ "  iff"-  '     -  L  - -W"-  W:^^sMm^W£% 
- 


fSmSrn 

fe^»       ■■■■■  -■•■-'      ^ 

***5£;V^:;  --:■•  ■"■■ 


A  PLACE  WHERE  A  FIRE  HAD  KEEN  MADE. 

but  part  of  it,  near  the  end,  was  so  low  that  I  had 
to  creep  on  my  hands  and  feet  to  go  in.  What 
the  length  of  it  was  I  could  not  tell,  for  my  light 
went  out,  and  I  had  to  give  up  my  search.     The 


80  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

next  day  I  went  to  the  cave  with  large  lights 
made  of  goat's  fat;  and  when  I  got  to  the  end, 
I  found  that  the  roof  rose  to  two  score  feet 
or  more. 

As  my  lights  shone  on  the  walls  and  roof 
of  the  cave,  a  sight  burst  on  my  view,  the 
charms  of  which  no  tongue  could  tell ;  for  the 
walls  shone  like  stars.  What  was  in  the  rock 
to  cause  this  it  was  hard  to  say ;  they  might 
be  gems,  or  bright  stones,  or  gold.  But  let 
them  be  what  they  may,  this  cave  was  a  mine 
of  wrealth  to  me ;  for  at  such  time  as  I  felt 
dull  or  sad,  the  bright  scene  would  flash  on  my 
mind's  eye  and  fill  it  with  joy. 

All  these  years  had  gone  by,  with  no  new  sight 
to  rest  my  eyes  on,  till  this  scene  burst  on  them. 
I  felt  as  if  I  should  like  to  spend  the  rest  of  my 
life  here,  and  at  its  close  lie  down  to  die  in  this 
cave,  like  the  old  goat. 

As  I  went  home  I  was  struck  by  the  sight  of 
some  smoke,  which  came  from  a  fire  no  more  than 
two  miles  off.  From  this  time  I  lost  all  my  peace 
of  mind.  Day  and  night  a  dread  would  haunt 
me  that  the  men  who  had  made  this  fire  would 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


81 


&^m 


find  me  out.     I  went  home  and 

and  drew  up  my  steps, 

but    first     I     made    all 

things     round     me 

look  wild  and  rude. 

To     load     my     gun 

h  -  was  the  next 

Spb**       thing  to  do  ; 

ib,    I    thought 

it  would   be 

best  to  stay 

at  home  and 

hide. 

V       But  this 

I  I    could 

f  not  bear 

long.       I 

|  had  no  spy 

to     send 

out,     and 

all  I  could 

do  was  to 

get  to  the 

top  of  the 


82  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

hill  and  keep  a  good  look-out.  At  last,  through 
my  glass,  I  could  see  a  group  of  wild  men  join 
in  a  dance  round  their  fire.  As  soon  as  they 
had  left  I  took  two  guns,  and  slung  a  sword  on 
my  side ;  then  with  all  speed  I  set  off  to  the  top 
of  the  hill,  once  more  to  have  a  good  view. 

This  time  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  up  to  the 
men,  but  not  with  a  view  to  kill  them,  for  I  felt 
that  it  would  be  wrong  to  do  so.  With  such  a 
load  of  arms  it  took  me  two  hours  to  reach  the 
spot  where  the  fire  was ;  and  by  the  time  I  got 
there  the  men  had  all  gone ;  but  I  saw  them  in 
four  boats  out  at  sea. 

Down  on  the  shore,  there  was  a  proof  of  what 
the  work  of  these  men  had  been.  The  signs  of 
their  feast  made  me  sick  at  heart,  and  I  shut  my 
eyes.  I  durst  not  fire  my  gun  when  I  went  out 
for  food  on  that  side  of  the  isle,  lest  there  should 
be  some  of  the  men  left,  who  might  hear  it,  and  so 
find  me  out.  This  state  of  things  went  on  for  a 
year  and  three  months,  and  for  all  that  time  I  saw 
no  more  men. 

On  the  twelfth  of  May,  a  great  storm  of  wind 
blew  all  day  and  night.     As  it  was  dark,  I  sat  in 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


83 


my  house ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  gale,  I  heard 
a  gun  fire !  My  guess  was  that  it  must  have  been 
from  some  ship  cast  on  shore  by  the  storm.     So 


t"ji-_',V:   ( 


TO  SEE  IF  1  COULD  TRACE  ANY  BOATS. 

I  set  a  light  to  some  wood  on  top  of  the  hill, 
that  those  in  the  ship  if  ship  it  should  be,  might 
know  that  some  one  was  there  to  aid  them.     I 


84  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

then  heard  two  more  guns  fire.  When  it  was 
light,  I  went  to  the  south  side  of  the  isle  and 
there  lay  the  wreck  of  a  ship,  cast  on  the  rocks  in 
the  night  by  the  storm.  She  was  too  far  off  for 
me  to  see  if  there  were  men  on  board. 

Words  cannot  tell  how  much  I  did  long  to 
bring  but  one  of  the  ship's  crew  to  the  shore !  So 
strong  was  my  wish  to  save  the  life  of  those  on 
board,  that  I  could  have  laid  down  my  own  life 
to  do  so.  There  are  some  springs  in  the  heart 
which  when  hope  stirs  them,  drive  the  soul  on 
with  such  a  force,  that  to  lose  all  chance  of  the 
thing  one  hopes  for  would  seem  to  make  one 
mad  ;  and  thus  was  it  with  me. 

Now,  I  thought,  was  time  to  use  my  boat; 
so  I  set  to  work  at  once  to  fit  it  out.  I  took  on 
board  some  rum  (of  which  I  still  had  a  good  deal 
left),  some  dry  grapes,  a  bag  of  rice,  some  goat's 
milk,  and  cheese,  and  then  put  out  to  sea.  A 
dread  came  on  me  at  the  thought  of  the  risk  I 
had  run  on  the  same  rocks  ;  but  my  heart  did 
not  quite  fail  me,  though  I  knew  that  as  my  boat 
was  small,  if  a  gale  of  wind  should  spring  up  all 
would    be   lost.     Then  I  found  that  I  must  go 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


85 


back  to  the  shore  till   the  tide  should   turn,  and 
the  ebb  come  on. 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  out  the  next  day 
with  the  high  tide,  so  I  slept  that  night  in  my 
boat     At    dawn    I   set    out  to  sea,  and  in  less 


I  FOUND  A  DEAD  BOY. 


than  two  hours  I  came  up  to  the  wreck.  What  a 
scene  was  there  !  The  ship  had  struck  on  two 
rocks.  The  stern  was  torn  by  the  force  of  the 
waves,  the  masts  were  swept  off,  ropes  and 
chains  lay  strewn  on  the  deck,  and  all  was  wrapt 

b — Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


86  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

in  gloom.  As  I  came  up  to  the  wreck,  a  dog 
swam  to  me  with  a  yelp  and  a  whine.  I  took 
him  on  board  my  boat,  and  when  I  gave  him 
some  bread,  he  ate  it  like  a  wolf,  and  as  to  drink, 
he  would  have  burst  if  I  had  let  him  take  his  fill 
of  it. 

I  went  to  the  cook's  room,  where  I  found 
two  men,  but  they  were  both  dead.  The  tongue 
was  mute,  the  ear  was  deaf,  the  eye  was  shut, 
and  the  lip  was  stiff;  still  the  sad  tale  was  told, 
for  each  had  his  arm  round  his  friend's  neck,  and 
so  they  must  have  sat  to  wait  for  death.  What 
a  change  had  come  on  the  scene,  once  so  wild 
with  the  lash  of  the  waves  and  the  roar  of  the 
wind  !  All  was  calm  now — death  had  done  its 
work,  and  all  had  felt  its  stroke,  save  the  dog, 
and  he  was  the  one  thing  that  still  had  life. 

I  thought  the  ship  must  have  come  from  Spain, 
and  there  was  much  gold  on  board.  I  took  some 
of  the  chests  and  put  them  in  my  boat,  but  did 
not  wait  to  see  what  they  held,  and  with  this  spoil, 
and  three  casks  of  rum,  I  came  back. 

I  found  all  things  at  home  just  as  I  had  left 
them — my  goats,  my  cats,    and  my   bird.     The 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


87 


scene  in  the  cook's  room  was  in  my  mind  day  and 
night,  and  to  cheer  me  up  I  drank  some  of  the 
rum.     I  then  set  to  work  to  bring  my  freight  from 


THE  TREAS-URE  CHESTS. 


the  shore,  where  I  had  left  it.  In  the  chests  there 
were  two  great  bags  of  gold  and  some  bars  of  the 
same,  and  near  these  lay  three  small  flasks  and 
three  bags  of  shot,  which  were  a  great  prize. 


88         .  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

From  this  time  all  went  well  with  me  for  two 
years;  but  it  was  not  to  last.  One  day,  as  I 
stood  on  the  hill,  I  saw  six  boats  on  the  shore. 
What  could  this  mean?  Where  were  the  men 
who  had  brought  them?  And  what  had  they  come 
for  ?  I  saw  through  my  glass  that  there  were  a  score 
and  a  half  at  least  on  the  east  side  of  the  isle. 
They  had  meat  on  the  fire,  round  which  I  could 
see  them  dance.  They  then  took  a  man  from  one 
of  the  boats  who  was  bound  hand  and  foot;  but 
when  they  came  to  loose  his  bonds,  he  set  off  as 
fast  as  his  feet  would  take  him,  and  in  a  straight 
line  to  my  house. 

To  tell  the  truth,  when  I  saw  all  the  rest  of 
the  men  run  to  catch  him  my  hair  stood  on  end 
with  fright.  In  the  creek  he  swam  like  a  fish,  and 
the  plunge  which  he  took  brought  him  through  it 
in  a  few  strokes.  All  the  men  now  gave  up  the 
chase  but  two,  and  they  swam  through  the  creek, 
but  by  no  means  so  fast  as  the  slave  had  done. 
Now,  I  thought  was  the  time  for  me  to  help  the 
poor  man,  and  my  heart  told  me  it  would  be  right 
to  do  so.  I  ran  down  my  steps  with  my  two  guns, 
and  went  with  all  speed  up  the  hill,  and  then 
down  by  a  short  cut  to  meet  them. 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 


89 


I  gave  a  sign  to  the  poor  slave  to  come  to 
me,  and  at  the  same  time  went  up  to  meet  the 
two  men  who  were  in  chase  of  him.  I  made  a 
rush  at  the  first  of  these,  to  knock  him  down  with 


apf 


THE  DANCE  ROUND  THE  FIRE. 


the  stock  of  my  gun,  and  he  fell.  I  saw  the  one 
who  was  left  aim  at  me  with  his  bow,  so,  to  save 
my  life,  I  shot  him  dead. 

The  smoke  and  noise  from  my  gun  gave  the 
poor  slave  who  had  been  bound  such  a  shock  that 


90  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

he  stood  still  on  the  spot,  as  if  he  had  been  in  a 
trance.  I  gave  a  loud  shout  for  him  to  come  to 
me,  and  I  took  care  to  show  him  that  I  was  a 
friend,  and  made  all  the  signs  I  could  think  of  to 
coax  him  up  to  me.  At  length  he  came,  knelt 
down  to  kiss  the  ground,  and  then  took  hold  of 
my  foot  and  set  it  on  his  head.  All  this  meant 
that  he  was  my  slave ;  and  I  bade  him  rise  and 
made  much  of  him. 

But  there  was  more  work  to  be  done  yet,  for 
the  man  who  had  had  the  blow  from  my  gun  was 
not  dead.  I  made  a  sign  for  my  slave  (as  I  shall 
now  call  him)  to  look  at  him.  At  this  he  spoke 
to  me,  and  though  I  could  not  make  out  what  he 
said,  yet  it  gave  me  a  shock  of  joy ;  for  it  was  the 
first  sound  of  a  man's  voice  that  I  had  heard  for 
all  the  years  I  had  been  on  the  isle. 

The  man  whom  I  had  struck  with  the  stock  of 
my  gun  sat  up,  and  my  slave,  who  was  in  great 
fear  of  him,  made  signs  for  me  to  lend  him  my 
sword,  which  hung  in  a  belt  at  my  side.  With 
this  he  ran  up  to  the  man,  and  with  one  stroke 
cut  off  his  head.  When  he  had  done  this  he 
brought  me  back  my  sword  with  a  laugh  and  put 


TO  SAVE  MY  LIFE  I  SHOT  HIM  DEAD. 


9« 


92  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

it  down  in  front  of  me.  I  did  not  like  to  see  the 
glee  with  which  he  did  it,  and  I  did  not  feel  that 
my  own  life  was  quite  safe  with  such  a  man. 

He,  in  his  turn,  could  but  lift  up  his  large 
brown  hands  with  awe  to  think  that  I  had  put  his 
foe  to  death  while  I  stood  so  far  from  him.  But 
as  to  the  sword,  he  and  the  rest  of  his  tribe  made 
use  of  swords  of  wood,  and  this  was  why  he  knew 
so  well  how  to  wield  mine.  He  made  signs  to 
me  to  let  him  go  and  see  the  man  who  had  been 
shot ;  and  he  gave  him  a  turn  round,  first  on  this 
side,  then  on  that,  and  when  he  saw  the  wound 
made  in  the  breast  by  the  shot,  he  stood  quite  still 
once  more,  as  if  he  had  lost  his  wits.  I  made 
signs  for  him  to  come  back,  for  my  fears  told  me 
that  the  rest  of  the  men  might  come  in  search  of 
their  friends. 

I  did  not  like  to  take  my  slave  to  my  house, 
nor  to  my  cave;  so  I  threw  down  some  straw 
from  the  rice  plant  for  him  to  sleep  on,  and  gave 
him  some  bread  and  a  bunch  of  dry  grapes  to  eat. 
He  was  a  fine  man,  with  straight,  strong  limbs, 
tall  and  young.  His  hair  was  thick,  like  wool,  and 
black.     His  head  was  large  and  high,  and  he  had 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


93 


bright  black  eyes.     He  was  of  a  dark  brown  hue ; 
his  face  was  round  and  his  nose  small,  but  not 


AT  ONE  STROKE  CUT  OFF  HIS  HEAD. 


flat;  he  had  a  good  mouth  with  thin  lips,  with 
which  he  could  give  a  soft  smile ;  and  his  teeth 
were  as  white  as  snow- 


94  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

I  had  been  to  milk  my  goats  in  a  field  close 
by,  and  when  he  saw  me  he  ran  to  me  and  lay 
down  on  the  ground  to  show  me  his  thanks.  He 
then  put  his  head  on  the  ground  and  set  my  foot 
on  his  head,  as  he  had  done  at  first.  He  took  all 
the  means  he  could  think  of  to  let  me  know  that 
he  would  serve  me  all  his  life ;  and  I  gave  a  sign 
to  show  that  I  thought  well  of  him. 

The  next  thing  was  to  think  of  some  name  to 
call  him  by.  I  chose  that  of  the  sixth  day  of  the 
week  (Friday),  as  he  came  to  me  on  that  day.  I 
took  care  not  to  loose  sight  of  him  all  that  night, 
and  when  the  sun  rose  I  made  signs  for  him  to 
come  to  me  that  I  might  give  him  some  clothes, 
for  he  wore  none.  We  then  went  up  to  the  top 
of  the  hill  to  look  out  for  the  men,  but  as  we  could 
not  see  them  or  their  boats,  it  was  clear  that  they 
had  left  the  isle. 

My  slave  has  since  told  me  that  they  had  had 
a  great  fight  with  the  tribe  that  dwelt  next  to 
them,  and  that  all  those  men  whom  each  side  took 
in  war  were  their  own  by  right.  My  slave's  foes 
had  four  who  fell  to  their  share,  of  whom  he  was 
one, 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE.  95 

I  now  set  to  work  to  make  my  man  ,a  cap  of 
hare's  skin,  and  gave  him  a  goat's  skin  to  wear 
round  his  waist.  It  was  a  great  source  of  pride 
to  him  to  find  that  his  clothes  were  as  good  as 
my  own. 

At  night,  I  kept  my  guns,  sword,  and  bow  close 
to  my  side  ;  but  there  was  no  need  for  this,  as  my 
slave  was,  in  sooth,  most  true  to  me.  He  did  all 
that  he  was  set  to  do,  with  all  his  whole  heart  in  the 
work ;  and  I  knew  that  he  would  lay  down  his  life 
to  save  mine.  What  could  a  man  do  more  than 
that?  And  oh,  the  joy  to  have  him  here  to  cheer 
me  in  this  lone  isle ! 

I  did  my  best  to  teach  him,  so  like  a  child  as  he 
was,  to  do  and  feel  all  that  was  right.  I  found 
him  apt,  and  full  of  fun ;  and  he  took  great  pains 
to  learn  all  that  I  could  tell  him.  Our  lives  ran 
on  in  a  calm,  smooth  way  ;  and,  but  for  the  vile 
feasts  which  were  held  on  the  shores,  I  felt  no  wish 
to  leave  the  isle. 

As  Fri-day  had  by  no  means  lost  his  love  for 
these  meals,  it  struck  me  that  the  best  way  to  cure 
him  was  to  let  him  taste  the  flesh  of  beasts ;  so  I 
took  him  with  me  one  day  to  the  wood  for  some 


96  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

sport.  I  saw  a  she  goat,  in  the  shade,  with  her 
two  kids.  I  caught  Friday  by  the  arm,  and  made 
signs  to  him  not  to  stir,  and  then  shot  one  of  the 
kids ;  but  the  noise  of  the  gun  gave  the  poor  man 
a  great  shock.  He  did  not  see  the  kid,  nor  did 
he  know  that  it  was  dead.  He  tore  his  dress  off 
his  breast  to  feel  if  there  was  a  wound  there  ;  then 
he  knelt  down  to  me,  and  took  hold  of  my  knees 
to  pray  of  me  not  to  kill  him. 

To  show  poor  Fri-day  that  his  life  was  quite 
safe,  I  led  him  by  the  hand,  and  told  him  to  fetch 
the  kid.  By-and-by,  I  saw  a  hawk  in  a  tree,  so  I 
bade  him  look  at  the  gun,  the  hawk,  and  the 
ground ;  and  then  I  shot  the  bird.  But  my  poor 
slave  gave  still  more  signs  of  fear  this  time  than 
he  did  at  first,  for  he  shook  from  head  to  foot.  He 
must  have  thought  that  some  fiend  of  death  dwelt 
in  the  gun,  and  I  think  that  he  would  have  knelt 
down  to  it,  as  well  as  to  me ;  but  he  would  not  so 
much  as  touch  the  gun  for  some  time,  though  he 
would  speak  to  it  when  he  thought  I  was  not 
near.  Once  he  told  me  that  what  he  said  to  it 
was  to  ask  it  not  to  kill  him. 

I  brought  home  the  bird,  and  made  broth  of  it. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


97 


Fri-day  was  much  struck  to  see  me  eat  salt  with 
it,  and  made  a  wry  face ;  but  I,  in  my  turn,  took 
some  that  had  no  salt  with  it,  and  I  made  a  wry 


SHOT  ONE  OF  THE  KIDS. 


face  at  that.  The  next  day  I  gave  him  a  piece  of 
kid's  flesh,  which  I  had  hung  by  a  string  in  front 
of  the  fire  to  roast.  My  plan  was  to  put  two 
poles,  one  on  each  side  of  the  fire,  and  a  stick  on 


98  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

the  top  of  them  to  hold  the  string.  When  my 
slave  came  to  taste  the  flesh,  he  took  the  best 
means  to  let  me  know  how  good  he  thought  it. 

The  next  day  I  sent  him  to  beat  out  and  sift 
some  corn.  I  let  him  see  me  make  the  bread, 
and  he  soon  did  all  the  work.  I  felt  quite  a  love 
for  his  true,  warm  heart,  and  he  soon  learnt  to 
talk  to  me.  One  day  I  said,  "Do  the  men  of 
your  tribe  win  in  fight?"  He  told  me,  with  a 
smile,  that  they  did.  "Well,  then,"  said  I,  "how 
came  they  to  let  their  foes  take  you?" 

"They  run  one,  two,  three,  and  make  go  in 
the  boat  that  time." 

"Well,  and  what  do  the  men  do  with  those 
they  take?" 

"  Eat  them  all  up." 

This  was  not  good  news  for  me,  but  I  went 
on,  and  said,  "Where  do  they  take  them?" 

"Go  to  next  place  where  they  think." 

"Do  they  come  here?" 

"Yes,  yes,  they  come  here,  come  else  place 
too." 

"  Have  you  been  here  with  them  twice  ?" 

"Yes,  come  there." 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  99 

He  meant  the  northwest  side  of  the  isle,  so  to 
this  spot  I  took  him  the  next  day.  He  knew  the 
place,  and  told  me  he  was  there  once,  and  with 
him  twelve  men.  To  let  me  know  this,  he  placed 
twelve  stones  all  of  a  row,  and  made  me  count 
them. 

"Are  not  the  boats  lost  on  your  shore  now  and 
then?"  He  said  that  there  was  no  fear,  and  that 
no  boats  were  lost.  He  told  me  that  up  a  great 
way  by  the  moon — that  is,  where  the  moon  then 
came  up — there  dwelt  a  tribe  of  white  men  like 
me,  with  beards.  I  felt  sure  that  they  must  have 
come  from  Spain,  to  work  the  gold  mines.  I  put 
this  to  him:  "Could  I  go  from  this  isle  and  join 
those  men?" 

"Yes,  yes,  you  may  go  in  two  boats." 

It  was  hard  to  see  how  one  man  could  go  in 
two  boats,  but  what  he  meant  was,  a  boat  twice 
as  large  as  my  own. 

One  day  I  said  to  my  slave,  "  Do  you  know 
who  made  you?" 

But  he  could  not  tell  at  all  what  these  words 
meant.  So  I  said,  "  Do  you  know  who  made  the 
sea,    the    ground    we    tread    on,    the    hills,  and 


loo  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

woods  ?"  He  said  it  was  Beek,  whose  home  was 
a  great  way  off,  and  that  he  was  so  old  that  the 
sea  and  the  land  were  not  so  old  as  he. 

"If  this  old  man  has  made  all  things,  why  do 
not  all  things  bow  down  to  him  ?" 

My  slave  gave  a  grave  look,  and  said,  "All 
things  say  'O'  to  him." 

"Where  do  the  men  in  your  land  go  when 
they  die?" 

"All  go  to  Beek." 

I  then  held  my  hand  up  to  the  sky  to  point  to 
it,  and  said,  "God  dwells  there.  He  made  the 
world,  and  all  things  in  it.  The  moon  and  the 
stars  are  the  work  of  His  hand.  God  sends  the 
wind  and  the  rain  on  the  earth,  and  the  streams 
that  flow:  He  hides  the  face  of  the  sky  with 
clouds,  makes  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  beasts  of 
the  field,  and  herbs  for  the  use  of  man.  God's 
love  knows  no  end.  When  we  pray,  He  draws 
near  to  us  and  hears  us." 

It  was  a  real  joy  to  my  poor  slave  to  hear  me 
talk  of  these  things.  He  sat  still  for  a  long 
time,  then  gave  a  sigh,  and  told  me  that  he 
would  say  "O"  to  Beek  no  more,  for  he  was  but 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


IOI 


a  short  way  off,  and  yet  he  could  not  hear  till 
men  went  up  the  hill  to  speak  to  him. 

"Did  you  go  up  the  hill  to  speak  to  him?" 
said  I. 


CRU-SOE  TALKS  TO  FRI-DAY  OF  GOD. 


"No,  Okes  go  up  to  Beek,  not  young  mans." 

"What  do  Okes  say  to  him?" 

"They  say  'O.'" 

Now  that  I  brought  my  man  Fri-day  to  know 
that  Beek  was  not  the  true  God,  such  was  the 
sense  he  had  of  my  word  that  I  had  fears  lest 


7 — Crusoe,  One  $yl. 


io;  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

I  should  stand  in  the  place  of  Beek.  I  did  my 
best  to  call  forth  his  faith  in  Christ,  and  make  it 
strong  and  clear,  till  at  last — thanks  be  to  the 
Lord — I  brought  him  to  the  love  of  Him,  with 
the  whole  grasp  of  his  soul. 

To  please  my  poor  slave,  I  gave  him  a  sketch 
of  my  whole  life ;  I  told  him  where  I  was  born, 
and  where  I  spent  my  days  when  a  child.  He 
was  glad  to  hear  tales  of  the  land  of  my  birth, 
and  of  the  trade  which  we  kept  up,  in  ships,  with 
all  parts  of  the  known  world.  I  gave  him  a 
knife  and  a  belt,  which  made  him  dance  with  joy. 

One  day  as  we  stood  on  the  top  of  the  hill  at 
the  east  side  of  the  isle,  I  saw  him  fix  his  eyes 
on  the  main  land,  and  stand  for  a  long  time  to 
gaze  at  it;  then  jump  and  sing,  and  call  out 
to  me. 

"What  do  you  see?"  said  I. 

"O  joy!"  said  he,  with  a  fierce  glee  in  his 
eyes,  "O  glad!     There  see  my  land!" 

Why  did  he  strain  his  eyes  to  stare  at  this 
land  as  if  he  had  a  wish  to  be  there?  It  put 
fears  in  my  mind  which  made  me  feel  far  less  at 
my  ease  with  him.     Thought  I,  if  he  should  go 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE.  103 

back  to  his  home,  he  will  think  no  more  of  what 
I  have  taught  him  and  done  for  him.  He  will 
be  sure  to  tell  the  rest  of  his  tribe  all  my  ways, 
and  come  back  with,  it  may  be  scores  of  them, 
and  kill  me,  and  then  dance  round  me,  as  they 
did  round  the  men,  the  last  time  they  came  on 
my  isle. 

But  these  were  all  false  fears,  though  they 
found  a  place  in  my  mind  a  long  while ;  and  I 
was  not  so  kind  to  him  now  as  I  had  been.  From 
this  time  I  made  it  a  rule,  day  by  day,  to  find  out 
if  there  were  grounds  for  my  fears  or  not.  I 
said,  "Do  you  wish  to  be  once  more  in  your  own 
land?" 

"Yes!  I  be  much  O  glad  to  be  at  my  own 
land." 

"What  would  you  do  there?  Would  you 
turn  wild,  and  be  as  you  were?" 

"No,  no,  I  would  tell  them  to  be  good,  tell 
them  eat  bread,  corn,  milk,  no  eat  man  more!" 

"Why,  they  would  kill  you!" 

"No,  no,  they  no  kill;  they  love  learn." 

He  then  told  me  that  some  white  men  who 


104  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

had  come  on  their  shores   in   a  boat  had   taught 
them  a  great  deal. 

"Then  will  you  go  back  to  your  land  with  me?" 
He  said   he  could  not  swim  so  far,  so  I  told 
him  he  should  help  me  to  build  a  boat  to  go  in. 
Then  he  said,  "If  you  go,  I  go." 

"I  go?  why,  they  would  eat  me ! " 
"  No,  me  make  them  much  love  you." 
Then  he  told  me  as  well  as  he  could,  how  kind 
they  had  been  to  some  white  men.  I  brought  out 
the  large  boat  to  hear  what  he  thought  of  it,  but 
he  said  it  was  too  small.  We  then  went  to  look 
at  the  old  ship's  boat,  which,  as  it  had  been  in  the 
sun  for  years,  was  not  at  all  in  a  sound  state. 
The  poor  man  made  sure  that  it  would  do.  But 
how  were  we  to  know  this?  I  told  him  we  should 
built  a  boat  as  large  as  that,  and  that  he  should 
go  home  in  it.  He  spoke  not  a  word,  but  was 
grave  and  sad. 

"What  ails  you?"  said  I. 
"Why  you  grieve  mad  with  your  man  ? 
"What  do  you  mean?     I  am  not  cross  with 
you." 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


IC5 


"No  cross?  no  cross  with  me?     Why  send 
your  man  home  to  his  own  land,  then  ?" 

"  Did  you  not  tell   me  you  would  like  to  go 
back?"      "Yes,  yes,  we  both  there;    no  wish  self 
there,  if  you  not  there!" 

"And  what  should  I  do  there?" 
"You  do  great  deal  much  good! 


you   teach   wild    men 
be    good    men  ;    you v 
tell  them  know  God,  pray 
God,  and  lead  new  life." 

We  soon  set  to  work 
to  make  a  boat  that  would 
take  us  both.  The  first  thing  was  to  look  out 
for  some  large  trees  that  grew  near  the  shore, 
so  that  we  could  launch  our  boat  when  it  was 
made.     My  slave's  plan  was  to  burn  the  wood  to 


io6  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

make  it  the  right  shape ;  but  as  mine  was  to  hew 
it,  I  set  him  to  work  with  my  tools,  and  in  two 
month's  time  we  had  made  a  good  strong  boat; 
but  it  took  a  long  while  to  get  her  down  to  the 
shore. 

Fri-day  had  the  whole  charge  of  her;  and, 
large  as  she  was,  he  made  her  move  with  ease, 
and  said,  "he  thought  she  go  there  well,  though 
great  blow  wind!"  He  did  not  know  that  I 
meant  to  make  a  mast  and  sail.  I  cut  down  a 
young  fir  tree  for  the  mast,  and  then  I  set  to  work 
at  the  sail.  It  made  me  laugh  to  see  my  man 
stand  and  stare,  when  he  came  to  watch  me  sail 
the  boat.  But  he  soon  gave  a  jump,  a  laugh,  and 
a  clap  of  the  hands  when  he  saw  the  sail  jib  and 
fall,  first  on  this  side,  then  on  that. 

The  next  thing  to  do  was  to  stow  our  boat  up 
in  the  creek,  where  we  dug  a  small  dock;  and 
when  the  tide  was  low,  we  made  a  dam,  to 
keep  out  the  sea.  The  time  of  the  year  had  now 
come  for  us  to  set  sail,  so  we  got  out  all  our  stores, 
to  put  them  in  the  boat. 

One  day  I  sent  Fri-day  to  the  shore,  to  get  a 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


107 


sort  of  herb  that  grew  there.     I  soon  heard  him 
cry  out  to    me,    "  O  grief!     O  bad 
O  bad  !    O  out  thare  boats,  one,  two, 
three!"      "Keep  a  stout  heart,"  said 
I,  to  cheer  him.     The  poor  man 
shook  with  fear ;  for  he  thought 
that  the  men  who  brought  him 


here  had  now  jf 
come  back   to  ™ 
kill  him. 

''Can    you 
fight?"     said    I.     I 

"Me  shoot;  but 
me  saw  three    boats 
one,     two,     three!"  launch-ing  our  boat. 

11  Have  no  fear ;  those  that  we  do  not  kill  will 


io8  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

be  sure  to  take  fright  at  the  sound  of  our  guns. 
Now  will  you  stand  by  me  and  do  just  as  you 
are  bid  ?" 

"Me  die  when  you  bid  die." 

I  gave  him  a  good  draught  of  rum  ;  and  when 
he  had  drunk  this,  he  took  up  an  axe  and  two 
guns,  each  of  which  had  a  charge  of  swan  shot. 
I  took  two  guns  as  well,  and  put  large  shot  in 
them,  and  then  hung  my  great  sword  by  my  side. 
From  the  top  of  the  hill,  I  saw  with  the  help  of 
my  glass,  that  the  boats  had  each  brought  eight 
men  and  one  slave.  They  had  come  on  shore 
near  the  creek,  where  a  grove  of  young  trees 
grew  close  down  to  the  sea.  They  had  with  them 
three  slaves,  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  you  who 
read  this,  may  guess  what  they  were  brought 
here  for.  I  felt  that  I  must  try  and  save  them 
from  so  hard  a  fate,  and  that  to  do  this,  I  should 
have  to  put  some  of  their  foes  to  death.  So  we 
set  forth  on  our  way.  I  gave  Fri-day  strict 
charge  to  keep  close  to  me,  and  not  to  fire  till  I 
told  him  to  do  so. 

We  went  full  a  mile  out  of  our  way,  that  we 
might  get  round  to  the  wood  to  hide  there.     But 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


109 


we  had  not  gone  far,  when  my  old  qualms  came 

back  to  me,  and  I  thought,  "Is  it  for  me  to  dip 

my  hands  in   man's 

blood  ?   Why  should 

I  kill  those  who  have 

done    me   no    harm, 

and  mean  not  to  hurt 

me?     Nay,  who    do 

not  so  much  as  know 

that  they  are  in  the 

wrong,     when     they 

hold   these    feasts. 

Are   not   their  ways 

a  sign  that  God  has 

left    them  (with  the 

rest    of    their    tribe) 

to    their    own    dull 

hearts?      God    did 

not  call  me  to  be  a 

judge  for  Him.     He 

who    said    'Thou 

shalt  not  kill,'  said  it  for  me,  as  well  as  the  rest 

of  the  world." 

A  throng  of  thoughts  like  these  would  rush 


jjjj|jlj|v  jr3^&\SvN*f' 


SO  WE  SET  FORTH. 


no  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

on  my  mind,  as  if  to  warn  me  to  pause,  till  I  felt 
sure  that  there  was  more  to  call  me  to  the  work 
than  I  knew  of.  I  took  my  stand  in  the  wood,  to 
watch  the  men  at  their  feast,  and  then  crept  on, 
with  Fri-day  close  at  my  heels.  Thus  we  went 
till  we  came  to  the  skirts  of  the  wood.  Then  I 
said  to  Fri-day,  "Go  up  to  the  top  of  that  tree, 
and  bring  me  word  if  you  can  see  the  men." 

He  went,  and,  quick  as  thought,  came  back  to 
say  that  they  were  all  round  the  fire,  and  that  the 
man  who  was  bound  on  the  sand  would  be  the 
next  they  would  kill.  But  when  he  told  me  that 
it  was  a  white  man,  one  of  my  own  race,  I  felt  the 
blood  boil  in  my  veins.  Two  of  the  gang  had 
gone  to  loose  the  white  man  from  his  bonds ;  so 
now  was  the  time  to  fire. 

At  the  sound  of  our  guns,  we  saw  all  the  men 
jump  up  from  the  ground  where  they  sat.  It 
must  have  been  the  first  gun  they  had  heard  in 
their  lives.  They  knew  not  which  way  to  look. 
I  now  threw  down  my  piece,  and  took  up  a  small 
gun ;  Fri-day  did  the  same ;  and  I  gave  him  the 
word  to  fire.  The  men  ran  right  and  left,  with 
yells  and  screams. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


Il  i 


I  now  made  a  rush  out  of  the  wood,  that  they 
might  see  me,  with  my  man  Fri-day  at  my  heels, 
of  course.     We  gave  a  loud  shout,  and  ran  up  to 


THE  FIRST  GUN  THEY  HAD  HEAR». 


the  white  man  as  fast  as  we  could.  There  he  lay 
on  the  hot  sand.  I  cut  the  flag,  or  rush,  by  which 
he  was  bound,  but  he  was  too  weak  to  stand  or 


112  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

speak,  so  I  gave  him  some  rum.  He  let  me  know 
by  all  the  signs  that  he  could  think  of,  how  much 
he  stood  in  my  debt  for  all  that  I  had  done  for 
him. 

I  said,  "We  will  talk  of  that  by  and  by;  but 
now  we  must  do  what  we  can  to  save  our  lives." 
Fri-day,  who  was  free  to  go  where  he  chose,  flew 
here  and^  there,  and  put  all  the  men  to  the  rout. 
They  fled  in  full  haste  to  their  boats,  and  were 
soon  out  at  sea ;  and  so  we  got  rid  of  our  foes  at 
last. 

The  man  whom  we  had  found  on  the  sand 
told  us  that  his  name  was  Carl,  and  that  he  came 
from  Spain.  But  there  was  one  more  man  to 
claim  our  care ;  for  the  black  men  had  left  a  small 
boat  on  the  sands,  and  in  this  I  saw  a  poor  wretch 
who  lay  half  dead.  He  could  not  so  much  as 
look  up,  so  tight  was  he  bound,  neck  and  heels. 
When  I  cut  the  bonds  from  him  he  gave  a  deep 
groan,  for  he  thought  that  all  this  was  but  to  lead 
him  out  to  die. 

Fri-day  then  came  up,  and  I  bade  him. speak  to 
the  old  man  in  his  own  tongue,  and  tell  him  that 
he  was  free.     This  good  news  gave  him  strength, 


I  MADE  DIRECTLY  TOWARDS  THE  POOR  VICTIM. 


"3 


114  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

and  he  sat  up  in  the  boat.  But  when  Fri-day 
came  to  hear  him  talk,  and  to  look  him  in  the 
face,  it  brought  the  tears  to  my  eyes  to  see  him 
kiss  and  hug  the  poor  old  man,  and  dance  round 
him  with  joy,  then  weep,  wring  his  hands,  and 
beat  his  own  face  and  head,  and  then  laugh  once 
more,  sing  and  leap.  For  a  long  time  he  could 
not  speak  to  me,  so  as  to  let  me  know  what  all  this 
meant.  But  at  length  he  told  me  that  he  was  the 
son  of  this  poor  old  man,  and  that  his  name  was  Jaf. 

It  would  be  a  hard  task  for  me  to  tell  of  all  the 
quaint  signs  Fri-day  made  to  show  his  joy.  He 
went  in  and  out  of  the  boat  five  or  six  times,  sat 
down  by  old  Jaf,  and  held  the  poor  old  man's 
head  close  to  his  breast  to  warm  it;  then  he  set 
to  work  to  rub  his  arms  and  feet,  which  were  cold 
and  stiff  from  the  bonds.  I  told  Fri-day  to  give 
him  some  rum  and  bread;  but  he  said,  "None! 
Bad  dog  eat  all  up  self."  He  then  ran  off  straight 
to  the  house,  and  took  no  heed  of  my  calls,  but 
went  as  swift  as  a  deer. 

In  an  hour's  time,  he  came  back  with  a  jug  in 
his  hand.  The  good  soul  had  gone  all  the  way 
to  the  house,  that  Jaf  might  have  a  fresh  draught 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  n; 

from  my  well ;  and  with  it  he  brought  two 
cakes,  one  of  which  I  bade  him  take  to  Carl, 
who  lay  in  the  shade  of  a  tree.  His  limbs  were 
stiff  and  cold,  and  he  was  too  weak  to  say 
a  word. 

I  set  my  man  to  rub  his  feet  with  rum,  and 
while  he  did  so,  I  saw  Fri-day  turn  his  head 
round  from  time  to  time,  to  steal  a  look  at  the 
old  man.  Then  we  brought  Carl  and  Jaf  home 
from  the  boat  on  our  backs,  as  they  could  not 
walk.  The  door  of  my  house  was  at  the  top,  and 
the  poor  sick  men  could  not  climb  the  steps  by 
which  I  got  in,  so  we  made  for  them  a  tent  of  old 
sails. 

I  was  now  a  king  of  these  three  men,  as  well 
as  lord  of  the  isle ;  and  I  felt  proud  to  say,  "They 
all  owe  their  lives  to  their  king,  and  would  lay 
them  down  for  him  if  he,  bade  them  do  so."  But 
I  did  not  think  that  my  reign  was  so  soon  to 
come  to  an  end.  The  next  thing  for  us  to  do 
was  to  give  Carl  and  Jaf  some  food,  and  to  kill 
and  roast  a  kid,  to  which  we  all  four  sat  down, 
and  I  did  my  best  to  cheer  them. 

Carl  in  a  few  days  grew  quite  strong,  and   < 


Ii6  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

set  him  to  work  to  dig  some  land  for  seed  ;  for 
it  was  clear  we  should  want  more  corn  now  that 
we  had  two  more  mouths  to  fill.  So  we  put  in 
the  ground  all  the  stock  of  grain  I  had,  and  thus 
we  all  four  had  as  much  work  as  we  could  do  for 
some  time.  When  the  crop  grew,  and  was  ripe, 
we  found  we  had  a  good  store  of  grain. 

We  made  a  plan  that  Carl  and  Jaf  should  go 
back  to  the  main  land,  to  try  if  they  could  get 
some  of  the  white  men,  who  had  been  cast  on 
shore  there,  to  come  and  live  with  us ;  so  they 
got  out  the  boat,  and  took  with  them  two  guns, 
and  food  for  eight  days.  They  were  to  come 
back  in  a  week's  time,  and  I  bade  them  hang  out 
a  sign  when  they  came  in  sight,  so  that  we  might 
know  who  they  were. 

One  day,  Fri-day  ran  up  to  me  in  great  glee, 
and  said,  "They  are  back  !  They  are  back  !"  A 
mile  from  shore,  there  was  a  boat  with  a  sail, 
which  stood  in  for  the  land ;  but  I  knew  it  could 
not  be  the  one  which  our  two  friends  had  gone 
out  in,  for  it  was  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  isle 
for  that.  I  saw,  too,  through  my  glass,  a  ship 
out  at  sea.     There  were  twelve  men  in  the  boat 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


117 


three  of  whom  were  bound  in  chains,  and  four 
had  fire-arms. 

By  and  by  I  saw  one  of  the  men  raise  his 


WM*t   -s *>     =L—^Z~*?A&?f&& 


I  SAW  A  SHIP  OUT  AT  SEA. 


sword  to  those  who  were  in  chains,  and  I  felt 
sure  that  all  was  not  right.  Then  I  saw  that 
three  men  who  had  been  bound  were  set  free ; 


S— Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


n8  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

and  when  they  had  come  on  shore  they  lay  on 
the  ground,  in  the  shade  of  a  tree.  I  was  soon 
at  their  side,  for  their  looks,  so  sad  and  worn, 
brought  to  my  mind  the  first  few  hours  I  had 
spent  in  this  wild  spot,  where  all  to  me  was  wrapt 
in  gloom. 

I  went  up  to  these  men  and  said : 

"Who  are  you,  Sirs?" 

They  gave  a  start  at  my  voice  and  at  my 
strange  dress,  and  made  a  move  as  if  they  would 
fly  from  me.  I  said,  "Do  not  fear  me,  for  it  may 
be  that  you  have  a  friend  at  hand,  though  you  do 
not  think  it."  "He  must  be  sent  from  the  sky 
then,"  said  one  of  them  with  a  grave  look;  and 
he  took  off  his  hat  to  me  at  the  same  time.  "All 
help  is  from  thence,  Sir,"  I  said.  "  But  what 
can  I  do  to  aid  you?  You  look  as  if  you  had 
some  load  of  grief  on  your  breast.  I  saw  one  of 
the  men  lift  his  sword  as  if  to  kill  you." 

The  tears  ran  down  the  poor  man's  face,  as  he 
said,  "Is  this  a  god,  or  is  it  but  a  man  ?"  "Have 
no  doubt  on  that  score,  Sir,"  said  I,  "for  a  god 
would  not  have  come  with  a  dress  like  this. 
No,  do  not  fear — nor  raise  your  hopes  too  high  ; 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


119 


for   you    see    but  a  man,  yet  one  who  will    clo 
all  he  can    to    help   you.     Your    speech    shows 


WHO  ARE  YOU  SIRS  ? 


me  that  you  come  from  the  same  land  as  I  do. 
I  will  do  all  I  can  to  serve  you.  Tell  me  your 
case." 


120  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

"  Our  case,  Sir,  is  too  long  to  tell  you  while 
they  who  would  kill  us  were  so  near.  My  name 
is  Paul.  To  be  short,  Sir,  my  crew  have  thrust 
me  out  of  my  ship,  which  you  see  out  there,  and 
have  left  me  here  to  die.  It  was  as  much  as  I 
could  do  to  make  them  sheathe  their  swords, 
which  you  saw  were  drawn  to  slay  me.  They  have 
set  me  down  in  this  isle  with  these  two  men,  my 
friend  here,  and  the  ship's  mate." 

"Where  have  they  gone?"   said  I. 

"There,  in  the  wood  close  by.  I  fear  they 
may  have  seen  and  heard  us.  If  they  have,  they 
will  be  sure  to  kill  us  all." 

"  Have  they  fire-arms  ?" 

"They  have  four  guns,  one  of  which  is  in  the 
boat." 

"Well,  then,  leave  all  to  me  !" 

"There  are  two  of  the  men,"  said  he,  "who 
are  worse  than  the  rest.  All  but  these  I  feel  sure 
would  go  back  to  work  the  ship." 

I  thought  it  was  best  to  speak  out  to  Paul  at 
once,  and  I  said,  "  Now  if  I  save  your  life,  there 
are  two  things  which  you  must  do." 

But  he  read  my  thoughts,  and  said,   "If  you 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  tit 

save  my  life,  you  shall  do  as  you  like  with  me 
and  my  ship,  and  take  her  where  you  please." 

I  saw  that  the  two  men,  in  whose  charge  the 
boat  had  been  left,  had  come  on  shore ;  so  the 
first  thing  I  did  was  to  send  Fri-day  to  fetch  from 
it  the  oars,  the  sail,  and  the  gun.  And  now  the 
ship  might  be  said  to  be  in  our  hands.  When  the 
time  came  for  the  men  to  go  back  to  the  ship, 
they  were  in  a  great  rage  ;  for,  as  the  boat  had 
now  no  sail  nor  oars,  they  knew  not  how  to  get 
3ut  to  their  ship. 

We  heard  them  say  that  it  was  a  strange  sort 
of  isle,  for  that  sprites  had  come  to  the  boat,  to 
take  off  the  sails  and  oars.  We  could  see  them 
run  to  and  fro,  with  great  rage ;  then  go  and  sit 
in  the  boat  to  rest,  and  then  come  on  shore  once 
more.  When  they  drew  near  to  us,  Paul  and 
Fri-day  would  fain  have  had  me  fall  on  them  at 
once.  But  my  wish  was  to  spare  them,  and  kill 
as  few  as  I  could.  I  told  two  of  my  men  to  creep 
on  their  hands  and  feet  close  to  the  ground,  so 
that  they  might  not  be  seen,  and  when  they  got 
up  to  the  men,  not  to  fire  till  I  gave  the  word. 

They  had  not  stood  thus  long  when  three  of 


122  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

the  crew  came  up  to  us.  Till  now  we  had  but 
heard  their  voice,  but  when  they  came  so  near  as 
to  be  seen,  Paul  and  Fri-day  stood  up  and  shot 
at  them.  Two  of  the  men  fell  dead,  and  they 
were  the  worst  of  the  crew,  and  the  third  ran  off. 
At  the  sound  of  the  guns  I  came  up,  but  it  was 
so  dark  that  the  men  could  not  tell  if  there  were 
three  of  us  or  three  score. 

It  fell  out  just  as  I  could  wish,  for  I  heard  the 
men  ask  :  "  To  whom  must  we  yield,  and  where 
are  they  ?"  Fri-day  told  them  that  Paul  was  there 
with  the  king  of  the  isle,  who  had  brought  with 
him  a  crowd  of  men  !  At  this  one  of  the  crew 
said  :  "If  Paul  will  spare  our  lives  we  will  yield." 
"Then,"  said  Fri-day,  "you  shall  know  the  king's 
will."  Then  Paul  said  to  them:  "You  know 
my  voice  ;  if  you  lay  down  your  arms  the  king 
will  spare  your  lives." 

They  fell  on  their  knees  to  beg  the  same  of 
me.  I  took  good  care  that  they  did  not  see  me, 
but  I  gave  them  my  word  that  they  should  all 
live,  that  I  should  take  four  of  them  to  work  the 
ship,  and  that  the  rest  would  be  bound  hand  and 
foot  for  the  good  faith  of  the  four.  This  was  to 
show  them  what  a  stern  king  I  was. 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


12" 


Of  course  I   soon  set   them   free,  and   I  put 
them  in  a  way  to  take  my  place  on  the   isle.     I 


THEY  FELL  ON  THEIR  KNEES. 


told  them  of  all   my  ways,  taught  them  how  to 
mind  the  goats,  how  to  work  the  farm  and  make 


124  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

the  bread.  I  gave  them  a  house  to  live  in,  fire- 
arms, tools  and  my  two  tame  cats  ;  in  fact,  all  but 
Poll  and  my  gold. 

As  I  sat  on  the  top  of  the  hill  Paul  came  up 
to  me.  He  held  out  his  hand  to  point  to  the 
ship,  and  with  much  warmth  took  me  to  his  arms 
and  said:  "My  dear  friend,  there  is  your  ship  ! 
for  she  is  all  yours,  and  so  are  we,  and  all  that 
is  in  her." 

I  cast  my  eyes  to  the  ship,  which  rode  half  a 
mile  off  the  shore,  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  and 
near  the  place  where  I  had  brought  my  raft  to  the 
land.  Yes,  there  she  stood,  the  ship  that  was  to 
set  me  free  and  to  take  me  where  I  might  choose 
to  go.  She  set  her  sails  to  the  wind  and  her  flags 
threw  out  their  gay  stripes  in  the  breeze.  Such  a 
sight  was  too  much  for  me,  and  I  fell  down  faint 
with  joy.  Paul  then  took  out  a  flask,  which  he 
had  brought  for  me,  and  gave  me  a  dram,  which 
I  drank,  but  for  a  good  while  I  could  not  speak  to 
him. 

Fri-day  and  Paul  then  went  on  board  the  ship, 
and  Paul  took  charge  of  her  once  more.  We  did 
not  start  that  night,  but  at  noon  the  next  day  I  left 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


125 


the    isle — that  lone    isle,  where  I   had  spent  so 

great  a  part  of  ¥£%$%<*"■'"  r~'~    "'" 

my   life  —  not  B 

much  less  than  I 

thrice  ten  long  j| 

years. 

When       IB 
came    back    to  || 
the    dear    land  §§ 
of  my  birth  all  jj 
was    strange  (J 
and  new  to  me.  jjji 
I    went   to    my  J 
old    home   at 
York,  but  none 
of    my    friends 
were  there,  and 
to    my,   great  |gj 
grief  I   saw,  on  §| 
the   stone   at 
their  grave  the 
sad  tale  of  their 
death. 

As  they  had  thought,  of  course,  that  I  was 


THE  SHIP  THAT  WAS  TO  SET  ME  FREE. 


126  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

dead,  they  had  not  left  me  their  wealth  and  lands, 
so  that  I  stood  much  in  want  of  means,  for  it  was 
but  a  small  sum  that  I  had  brought  with  me  from 
the  isle.  But  in  this  time  of  need  I  had  the  luck 
to  find  my  good  friend  who  once  took  me  up  at 
sea.  He  was  now  grown  too  old  for  work,  and 
had  put  his  son  in  the  ship  in  his  place.  He  did 
not  know  me  at  first,  but  I  was  soon  brought  to 
his  mind  when  I  told  him  who  I  was.  I  found 
from  him  that  the  land  which  I  had  bought  on 
my  way  to  the  isle  was  now  worth  much. 

As  it  was  a  long  way  off  I  felt  no  wish  to  go 
and  live  there,  so  I  made  up  my  mind  to  sell  it, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  I  got  for  it  a 
sum  so  large  as  to  make  me  a  rich  man  all  at 
once. 

Weeks,  months  and  years  went  by.  I  had  a 
farm,  a  wife  and  two  sons  and  was  by  no  means 
young,  but  still  I  could  not  get  rid  of  a  strong 
wish  which  dwelt  in  my  thoughts  by  day  and  my 
dreams  by  night,  and  that  was  to  set  foot  once 
more  on  my  old  isle. 

I  had  now  no  need  to  work  for  food,  or  for 
means  of  life  ;  all  I  had  to  do  was   to   teach   my 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


127 


boys  to  be  wise  and  good,  to  live  at  my  ease  and 
see  my  wealth  grow  day  by  day.  Yet  the  wish 
to  go  back  to  my  wild  haunts  clung  round   me 


A  RICH  MAN  ALL  AT  ONCE. 


like  a  cloud,  and  I  could  in  no  way  drive  it  from 
me,  so  true  is  it  that  "what  is  bred  in  the  bone 
will  not  come  out  of  the  flesh." 


128 


Robinson  crusok. 


At  length  I  lost  my  wife,  which  was  a  great 
blow  to  me,  and  my  home  was  now  so  sad  that  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  launch  out  once  more  on 


^T^  J.-"-"1 


MY  HOME  WAS  NOW  SO  SAD. 


the  broad   sea  and  go  with   my  man  Fri-day  to 
that  lone  isle  where  dwelt  all  my  hopes. 

I   took   with   me  as   large  a   store    of   tools, 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


129 


clothes,  and  such  like  goods  as  I  had  room  for, 
and  men  of  skill  in  all  kinds  of  trades  to  live  in 
the  isle.  When  we  set  sail  we  had  a  fair  wind 
for  some  time,  but  one  night  the  mate,  who  was 

E£PB0fl[ 


WE  SAW  A  GREAT  LIGHT. 


at  the  watch,  told  me  he  saw  a  flash  of  fire  and 
heard  a  gun  go  off.  At  this  we  all  ran  on  deck, 
from  whence  we  saw  a  great  light,  and  as  there 
was  no  land  that  way,  we  knew  that  it  must  be 


J30  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

some  ship  on  fire  at  sea,  which  could  not  be  far 
off.  for  we  heard  the  sound  of  the  gun. 

The  wind  was  still  fair,  so  we  made  our  way 
for  the  point  where  we  saw  the  light,  and  in  half 
an  hour  it  was  but  too  plain  that  a  large  ship 
was  on  fire  in  the  midst  of  the  broad  sea.  I  gave 
the  word  to  fire  off  five  guns,  and  we  then  lay 
by  to  wait  till  break  of  day.  But  in  the  dead  of 
the  night  the  ship  blew  up  in  the  air,  the  flames 
shot  forth,  and  what  there  was  left  of  the  ship 
sank.  We  hung  out  lights  and  our  guns  kept 
up  a  fire  all  night  long  to  let  the  crew  know  that 
there  was  help  at  hand. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  next  day  we  found,  by 
the  aid  of  the  glass,  that  two  of  the  ship's  boats 
were  out  at  sea,  quite  full  of  men.  They  had 
seen  us,  and  had  done  their  best  to  make  us  see 
them,  and  in  half  an  hour  we  came  up  with  them. 

It  would  be  a  hard  task  for  me  to  set  forth  in 
words  the  scene  which  took  place  in  my  ship  when 
the  poor  French  folk  (for  such  they  were)  came 
on  board.  As  to  grief  and  fear  these  are  soon 
told — sighs,  tears  and  groans  make  up  the  sum 
of  them,  but  such  a  cause  of  joy  as  this  was,  in 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  131 

sooth,  too  much  for  them  to  bear,  weak  and  all 
but  dead  as  they  were. 

Some  would  send  up  shouts  of  joy  that  rent 
the  sky  ;  some  would  cry  and  wring  their  hands 
as  if  in  the  depths  of  grief;  some  would  dance, 
laugh  and  sing ;  not  a  few  were  dumb,  sick,  faint, 
in  a  swoon  or  half  mad,  and  two  or  three  were 
seen  to  give  thanks  to  God. 

In  this  strange  group  there  was  a  young  French 
priest,  who  did  his  best  to  soothe  those  around 
him,  and  I  saw  him  go  up  to  some  of  the  crew 
and  say  to  them  :  "  Why  do  you  scream  and  tear 
your  hair  and  wring  your  hands,  my  men  ?  Let 
your  joy  be  free  and  full  ;  give  it  full  range  and 
scope,  but  leave  off  this  trick  of  the  hands  and  lift 
them  up  in  praise  ;  let  your  voice  swell  out,  not 
in  screams,  but  in  hymns  of  thanks  to  God,  who 
has  brought  you  out  of  so  great  a  strait,  for  this 
will  add  peace  to  your  joy." 

The  next  day  they  were  all  in  a  right  frame  of 
mind,  so  I  gave  them  what  stores  I  could  spare 
and  put  them  on  board  a  ship  that  we  met  with 
on  her  way  to  France,  all  save  five,  who,  with 
the  priest,  had  a  wish  to  join  me. 


132  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

But  we  had  not  set  sail  long  when  we  fell  in 
with  a  ship  that  had  been  blown  out  to  sea  by  a 
storm  and  had  lost  her  masts  ;  and,  worse  than 
all,  her  crew  had  not  had  an  ounce  of  meat  or 
bread  for  ten  days.  I  gave  them  all  some  food, 
which  they  ate  like  wolves  in  the  snow,  but  I 
thought  it  best  to  check  them,  as  I  had  fears  that 
so  much  all  at  once  would  cause  the  death  of 
some  of  them. 

There  were  a  youth  and  a  young  girl  in  the 
ship  who  the  mate  said  he  thought  must  be  dead, 
but  he  had  not  had  the  heart  to  go  near  them,  for 
the  food  was  all  gone.  I  found  that  they  were 
faint  for  the  want  of  it,  and  as  it  were  in  the  jaws 
of  death,  but  in  a  short  time  they  both  got  well, 
and  as  they  had  no  wish  to  go  back  to  their  ship, 
I  took  them  with  me.  So  now  I  had  eight  more 
on  board  my  ship  than  I  had  when  I  first  set  out. 

In  three  months  from  the  time  when  I  left 
home,  I  came  in  sight  of  my  isle,  and  I  brought 
the  ship  safe  up  by  the  side  of  the  creek,  which 
was  near  my  old  house. 

I  went  up  to  Fri-day,  to  ask  if  he  knew  where 
he  was.     He  took  a  look  round  him,  and  soon 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


133 


with  a  clap  of  the  hands,  said  "O  yes!  O  there  ! 
O  yes !  O  there  !"  By  and  by  he  set  up  a  dance 
with  such  wild  glee,  that  it  was  as   much  as    I 


I  GAVE  THEM  ALL  SOME  FOOD. 


•$m& 


could  do  to  keep  him  on  deck.  "Well,  what 
think  you,  Fri-day?"  said  I,  "shall  we  find  those 
whom  we  left  still  here  ?" 


-Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


134  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

He  stood  quite  mute  for  a  while,  but  when  I 
spoke  of  old  Jaf  (whose  son  Fri-day  was),  the 
tears  ran  down  his  face,  and  his  heart  was  full  of 
grief. 

"No,  no,"  said  he,  "  no  more;  no,  no  more." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?"  said  I;  but  he 
shook  his  head  and  said,  "  O  no,  O  no,  he  long 
dead,  he  much  old  man." 

Just  then  his  quick  eye  caught  sight  of  some 
men  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  he  said,  "I  see 
men  there,  there,  there  !" 

I  could  not  see  the  least  sign  of  them,  but  I 
gave  the  word  to  fire  three  guns,  to  show  that 
we  were  friends,  and  soon  we  saw  smoke  rise 
from  the  side  of  the  creek.  I  then  got  out  the 
boat,  put  up  a  flag  of  peace,  and  went  on  shore 
with  Fri-day,  the  French  priest,  and  some  of  the 
crew.  We  all  had  arms  with  us,  in  case  there 
should  be  foes  on  the  isle  that  we  knew  not  of, 
but  we  found  that  there  was  no  need  to  be  on  our 
guard.  The  first  man  I  cast  my  eyes  on  at  the 
creek  was  my  old  friend  Carl  from  Spain,  whom 
I  took  from  the  hands  of  the  red  men  when  I 
was  last  on  the  isle. 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 


"35 


I  gave  strict  charge  to  all  in  the  boat  not  to 
go  on  shore,  but  Fri-day  could  not  be  kept  back, 
for  he  had  caught  sight  of  old  Jaf.  We  stood  by 
to  watch  him  fly  to  the  old  man  like  a  shaft 
from  a  bow,    and    catch    him   in    his  arms,    and 


.■."'.■^n-Ktic.-  *..-  y ■^li^rm^  .-  .' 


I  BROUGHT  THE  SHIP  SAFE. 


stroke  him  and  set  him  down  in  the  shade  ;  he 
then  stood  a  short  way  off  to  look  at  him,  with 
all  his  soul  in  his  eyes,  as  one  might  view  some 
choice  work  of  art.     He  next  led  the  old  man  by 


136  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

the  hand  up  and  down  the  shore,  and  now  and 
then  came  to  the  boat  to  fetch  him  a  cake,  or  a 
sip  of  rum  ;  then  he  would  set  him  down  once 
more  on  the  ground,  dance  round  and  round 
him,  and  all  the  while  tell  him  strange  tales  of 
what  he  had  seen  since  he  and  old  Jaf  had  last 
met. 

Carl  and  his  friends  bore  a  flag  of  truce  like 
mine,  and  at  first  Carl  could  not  make  out  who 
I  was  ;  but  when  I  spoke  to  him  in  his  own 
tongue,  he  threw  up  his  arms  and  said  that  he 
felt  shame  not  to  know  the  face  of  the  man  who 
had  once  come  to  save  him.  He  shook  my 
hands  with  much  warmth,  and  then  took  me  to 
my  old  house,  which  he  now  gave  up  to  me. 

I  could  no  more  have  found  the  spot  than 
if  I  had  not  been  there  at  all,  for  the  trees 
were  so  thick  and  close  that  the  house  could  not 
be  got  at  save  by  such  blind  ways  as  none  but 
those  who  made  them  could  find  out.  "Why 
should  you  raise  so  strong  a  fence  round  you  ?" 
said  I ;  but  Carl  told  me  he  felt  sure  I  should 
think  there  was    much    need    of  it  when  I   had 


CARL    AND  HIS  FRIENDS  BORE  A  FLAG  OF  TRUCE. 


137 


138  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

heard  all  that  had  come  to  pass  since  I  was  last 
on  the  isle. 

He  then  sent  for  the  old  crew  of  Paul's  ship, 
but  I  could  not  guess  who  they  were,  till  Carl 
said,  "These,  Sir,  are  some  of  the  men  who  owe 
their  lives  to  you." 

Then  one  by  one  they  came  up  to  me,  not  as 
if  they  had  been  the  rough  crew  of  a  ship,  but 
like  men  of  rank  who  had  come  to  kiss  the  hand 
of  their  king. 

The  first  thing  was  for  me  to  hear  all  that 
had  been  done  in  the  isle  since  I  left  it. 

I  must  make  a  short  pause  in  this  part  of  my 
tale,  and  state  that  when  I  was  last  on  the  isle  I 
sent  off  Carl  and  Jaf  to  the  main  land  to  fetch 
some  of  Carl's  friends  who  had  been  cast  on 
shore  there  on  their  way  from  Spain.  Of  course 
I  had  no  hope  then  that  a  ship  was  so  near  to 
take  me  to  the  land  of  my  birth.  So  when  Carl 
and  Jaf  came  back  to  the  isle  they  found  that  I 
had  gone,  and  that  five  strange  men  were  there 
in  my  place. 

These  five  men  were  part  of  the  crew  who 
had  thrust  Paul  out  of  his  ship.     Two  of  them, 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  139 

whose  names  were  Sam  and  Joe,  were  not  so  bad 
as  their  three  mates,  who  were  a  set  of  great 
rogues,  and  were  led  by  one  of  the  name  of  Will. 
When  I  left  the  isle  in  Paul's  ship,  I  took  Sam 
and  Joe  on  board  with  me,  but  just  as  I  was  on 
the  point  to  sail,  they  got  out  one  of  the  ship's 
boats  and  went  back  to  the  isle,  to  join  their 
three  friends. 

I  will  now  go  on  to  tell,  just  as  I  heard  it 
from  Carl,  all  that  had  come  to  pass  since  I  had 
left  the  isle.  When  Will  and  his  men  saw  that 
their  two  mates  had  come  to  join  them,  they 
would  have  no  more  to  do  with  them,  nor  would 
they  let  them  have  a  share  in  the  house,  nor  food 
to  eat.  So  Sam  and  Joe  had  to  live  as  well  as 
they  could  by  hard  work,  and  they  set  up  their 
home  on  the  north  shore  of  the  isle,  where  they 
built  huts  and  sheds,  and  made  a  farm. 

To  be  just  to  Will,  I  must  here  state  that  bad 
as  he  was,  he  did  two  kind  things,  when  Carl 
and  his  friends  came  back  to  the  isle,  for  he  gave 
them  food  to  eat,  and  he  put  my  note  in  Carl's 
hands,  as  well  as  a  long  scroll  on  which  I  had 
set  down  how  they  were  to  bake  the  bread,  bring 


140  ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 

up  the  tame  goats,  plant  the  corn,  dry  the  grapes, 
and  make  pots  and  pans,  just  as  I  had  done. 

For  some  time  all  went  on  well  with  Carl 
and  his  men  in  my  old  home.  They  had  the  use 
of  the  house  and  the  cave,  and  went  in  and  out 
just  as  they  choose.  Carl  and  Jaf  did  the  work, 
and  as  for  Will  and  his  friends,  all  they  did  was 
to  shoot  birds,  and  roam  on  the  shore.  When 
they  came  home  at  night,  they  sat  down  to  eat  of 
all  the  good  things  in  the  house,  for  which  they 
gave  no  thanks,  and  like  the  dog  in  the  ox's 
stall,  when  they  did  not  care  to  eat,  they  would 
not  let  the  rest  do  so.  Of  such  small  things  as 
these  it  would  not  be  worth  my  while  to  tell,  but 
that  at  last  they  broke  out  in  a  fierce  strife  with 
the  rest,  and  their  spite  grew  to  such  a  pitch  that 
flesh  and  blood  could  not  stand  it. 

When  Carl — whom  I  shall  now  call  the 
"Chief,"  as  he  took  the  lead  of  all  the  rest — 
first  came  back  from  the  main  land,  he  would 
have  let  all  the  five  men  of  Paul's  crew  live  in 
the  house,  and  be  good  friends  if  they  could  ;  but 
the  three  rogues  would  not  hear  of  it,  so  the  Chief 
gave  poor  Sam  and  Joe  corn  for  seed,  as  well  as 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  141 

some  peas  which  I  had  left  on  the  isle,  and  they 
soon  learnt  to  dig  and  plant,  and  hedge  in  their 
land,  in  the  mode  which  I  had  set  for  them,  and 
in  short  to  lead  good  lives. 

When  the  three  bad  men  saw  this,  they  were 
full  of  spite,  and  set  to  work  to  tease  and  vex 
them.  They  told  them  that  the  isle  was  their 
own,  and  that  no  one  else  had  a  right  to  build 
on  it  if  they  did  not  pay  them  rent.  Sam  and 
Joe  thought  at  first  that  this  was  a  joke,  and  said 
"Come  and  sit  down,  and  see  what  fine  homes 
we  have  built  ;  then  tell  us  what  rent  you  wish  us 
to  pay,  and  in  what  coin  you  would  like  to  have 
it" 

But  Will  soon  made  it  plain  that  they  were 
not  in  jest;  for  he  set  fire  to  a  torch  and  put  it  to 
the  roof  of  the  hut,  and  would  have  burnt  it 
down,  had  not  Joe  set  his  foot  on  the  torch  and 
put  out  the  flame.  This  made  Will  so  full  of 
rage,  that  he  ran  at  him  with  a  pole  which  he  had 
in  his  hand,  and  a  fierce  fight  then  took  place,  the 
end  of  which  was  that  the  three  rogues  had  to 
run  off.  But  in  a  short  time  they  came  back, 
trod   down   the   corn,  and  shot  the   young  kids, 


142  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

which  the  poor  men  had  got  to  bring  up  tame. 

At  last  the  spite  of  Will  and  his  friends  grew 
to  such  a  pitch,  that  one  night  they  set  off  with 
firearms  to  kill  poor  Sam  and  Joe  while  they 
slept.  But  when  they  came  to  their  huts  no  one 
was  to  be  found  ;  so  quoth  Will,  "  Ha  !  here's 
the  nest,  but  the  birds  are  flown  !  "  Then  they 
fell  to  work  to  pull  down  all  that  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on,  and  left  not  a  stick,  nor  so  much 
as  a  sign  to  show  where  the  huts  had  stood  ;  and 
they  tore  up  all  the  young  trees  by  the  roots,  and 
flung  them  far  and  wide. 

When  Carl  and  his  friends  heard  of  these  foul 
deeds,  it  made  their  blood  boil,  but  all  that  Will 
had  to  say  was,  "You,  Sir  Jacks  of  Spain,  shall 
have  the  same  sauce  if  you  do  not  mend  your 
ways."  So  Carl  took  from  them  their  guns  and 
knives,  and  had  them  set  in  chains.  As  soon  as 
they  had  time  to  feel  the  pain  of  this  kind  of  life, 
the  three  rogues  grew  more  cool,  and  sought  to 
make  peace,  and  to  get  back  their  arms,  and  live 
at  large.  The  Chief  told  them  that  in  time  he 
would  set  them  free,  but  that  he   could  not  let 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE.  143 

them  live  in  the  house,  nor  give  them  their  arms 
for  three  or  four  months. 

At  last  they  came  to  beg  that  Carl  and  his  men 


A  FIERCE  FIGHT  TOOK  PLACE. 


would  take  them  in  once  more,  and  give  them 
bread  to  eat,  as  they  had  no  food  but  eggs  all 
that  time.     But  the  Chief  said  that  he  would  not 


144  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

yield  till  they  had  sworn  to  build  up  the  huts 
which  they  had  torn  down.     So  they  did. 

One  day  a  whim  took  Will  and  his  two 
friends  that  they  would  go  to  the  main  land  to  try 
if  they  could  seize  some  of  the  red  men,  and 
bring  them  home  as  slaves,  to  do  the  hard  part 
of  their  work  for  them. 

Carl  would  have  been  glad  to  get  rid  of  men 
whom  he  could  not  well  trust  from  day  to  day, 
but  told  them  in  good  faith  how  rash  he  thought 
his  plan  was.  Yet  as  their  minds  were  made  up, 
he  gave  them  from  the  stores  all  that  they  could 
want,  and  a  large  boat  to  go  in ;  and  when  the 
rest  of  the  men  bade  them  "good  speed,"  none 
thought  they  would  find  their  way  back  to  the  isle. 
But  lo !  in  the  course  of  three  weeks  they  did  in 
truth  come  home.  They  said  they  had  found  the 
land  in  two  days,  and  that  the  red  men  gave  them 
roots  and  fish  to  eat,  and  they  brought  with  them 
eight  slaves,  three  of  whom  were  men,  and  five 
were  girls.  So  they  gave  their  good  hosts  an  axe, 
a  spade,  a  screw,  and  an  old  key,  and  brought  off 
the  slaves  in  the  boat. 

As  to  the  young  girls,  Carl  and  the  rest  of  the 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


H5 


men  from  Spain  did  not  care  to  wed  them,  so  the 
five  men  from  Paul's  crew  drew  lots  for  the  choice, 
and  each  had  one  of  them  for  a  wife,  while  the 
male  slaves  were  set  to  work  for  the  good  of  all, 


THE  ROGUES  MAKE  PEACE. 


though  there  was  not  much  for  them  to  do.  But 
one  of  them  ran  off  to  the  woods,  and  was  not 
to  be  found,  and  as  some  of  the  wild  tribes  had 
been  on  the  isle  to  feast  and  dance,    Carl   had 


146  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

good  cause  to  fear  that  he  might  have  gone  back 
with  them,  and  that  if  he  got  safe  home,  he  would 
be  sure  to  tell  his  tribe  of  the  white  men's  haunts 
so  near  at  hand. 

One  night  Carl  felt  a  great  weight  on  his 
mind,  and  could  get  no  sleep.  He  lay  still  for 
some  time,  yet  as  he  did  not  feel  at  ease,  he  got 
up  and  took  a  look  out,  but  as  the  night  was  too 
dark  for  him  to  see,  he  went  back  to  his  bed 
once  more.  Still  it  was  of  no  use,  for  though  he 
knew  not  why,  his  thoughts  would  let  him  have 
no  rest ;  he  then  woke  up  one  of  his  friends,  and 
told  him  how  it  had  been  with  him.  "  Say  you 
so  ?"  said  he.  "  What  if  some  of  the  wild  tribes 
have  come  on  shore,  and  it  is  the  sound  of  their 
boats  that  woke  you  up  ?" 

Then  they  set  off  to  the  top  of  the  hill  where 
I  was  wont  to  go,  and  from  thence  they  saw 
through  a  glass  a  fleet  of  more  than  a  score  of 
boats,  full  of  men  who  had  bows,  darts,  clubs, 
swords  of  wood,  and  such  like  arms  of  war ;  and 
it  was  clear  that  a  horde  of  some  fierce  tribe  had 
come  to  trap  and  slay  the  white  men. 

Their  boats  were  still  far  out  at  sea,  so  that 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


147 


Carl  and  his  men  had  some  hours  to  think  what 
they  should  do.  Their  force  was  so  small  that 
they  thought  it  wise  to  hide  and  lie  in  wait. 


THEY  DREW  LOTS  FOR  A  WIFE. 


They  first  made  safe  their  wives  and  stores 
in  a  thick  part  of  the  wood.  In  the  next  place, 
as  soon  as  the^  saw  that  the  red  men  had  come 


148  ROBINSON  CRUSOfc. 

on  shore,  and  that  they  bent  their  course  that 
way,  they  drove  all  the  goats  out  to  stray  in  the 
wood  just  where  they  chose  that  the  red  men 
might  think  they  were  wild. 

Carl  and  his  men  then  drew  up  in  a  small 
band,  calm  and  brave.  Two  of  the  wives  could 
not  be  kept  back,  but  would  go  out  and  fight 
with  bows  and  darts.  Then  Carl,  as  Chief  of  the 
isle,  took  the  lead,  but  he  put  Will  at  the  head  of 
one  band  of  men,  for  at  this  time  he  had  shown 
such  good  faith  and  such  shrewd,  keen  sense,  that 
all  thought  well  of  his  skill  and  zeal. 

As  the  Chief  had  not  arms  for  all  he  did  not 
give  guns  to  the  slaves,  but  each  of  them  had  a 
long  staff  with  a  spike  at  the  end  and  an  axe  to 
hang  at  his  side.  They  took  up  their  post  in  the 
wood  near  the  site  of  the  huts  that  were  burnt 
down,  and  there  they  lay  in  wait  for  the  red  men. 

The  foe  now  came  on  with  a  bold  and  fierce 
mien,  not  in  a  line,  but  in  crowds  here  and  there, 
to  the  point  where  Carl  lay  in  wait  for  them. 
When  the  first  band  were  so  near  as  to  be  in 
range  of  the  guns,  Carl  gave  the  word  for  his 
men  to  shoot  at  them  all  at  once,  so  th^t  those 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


149 


who  came  up  first  fell    dead   on   the   spot,  and 
great  fear  and  dread  came  on  the  rest. 

The  Chief  and  his  men  then  went  forth  from 
the  skirts  of  the  wood  where  they  had  lain  in  wait 


A  HORDE  OF  SOME  FIERCE  TRIBE. 


and  fell  on  the  foe  from  three  points  with  the 
butt  end  of  their  guns,  and  swords,  and  staves, 
and  they  fought  so  well  that  the  red  men  set  up 
a  loud  shriek  and  fled  for  their  lives  with  all  the 


■Crusoe,  On*  SyL 


150  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

speed  that  fear  and  swift  feet  could  lend  them. 
As  the  Chief  did  not  care  to  give  chase  they 
got  safe  back  to  the  shore  where  their  boats  lay. 

But  their  rout  was  not  yet  at  an  end,  for  it 
blew  a  great  storm  that  day,  so  that  the  boats 
could  not  put  off;  and  in  the  night  the  tide  drove 
most  of  them  so  high  on  the  shore  that  they  could 
not  be  got  to  sea  save  with  great  toil,  and  the 
waves  broke  some  of  them  to  bits. 

At  dawn  of  day,  when  the  Chief  saw  how 
things  stood,  he  said  :  "If  we  let  these  men  get 
their  boats  out  and  go  back  they  will  make  it 
known  to  the  rest  of  the  tribe  on  the  main  land 
that  we  are  here,  and  there  will  be  no  end  to  our 
wars  as  long  as  we  live ;  but  if  we  keep  them 
here  and  treat  them  well  they  will  not  harm  us." 
So  to  make  sure  that  they  should  not  leave  the 
isle  the  Chief  told  his  men  to  get  some  dry  wood 
from  dead  trees  and  set  the  boats  on  fire. 

When  the  red  men  saw  this  they  ran  all 
round  the  isle  with  loud  cries  as  if  they  were 
mad,  so  that  Carl  did  not  know  at  first  what 
to  do  with  them,  for  they  trod  all  the  corn  down 
with  their  feet,  and  tore  up  the  vines  just  as  the 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  151 

grapes  were  ripe  and  did  a  great  deal  of  harm. 

At  last  the  Chief  sent  old  Jaf  to  tell  the  red 

men  in  their  own  tongue  how  kind  he  would  be 

to  them ;  how  he  would  save  their  lives  and  give 


THE  FOE  CAME  IN  CROWDS  WITH  A  BOLD  AND  FIERCE  MIEN. 

them  part  of  the  isle  to  live  in  if  they  would 
keep  in  their  own  bounds ;  and  that  they  should 
have  corn  and  rice  to  plant  and  bread  to  eat  till 
such  time  as  the  crops  should  be  ripe. 


152  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

The  poor  men  were  but  too  glad  to  get  such 
good  terms  of  peace,  and  they  soon  learnt  to 
make  all  kinds  of  things  with  canes  and  wood, 
such  as  chairs,  stools  and  beds  ;  and  this  they  did 
with  great  skill  when  they  were  once  taught. 
From  this  time  till  I  came  back  to  the  isle  my 
friends  saw  no  more  of  the  wild  tribes. 

When  I  heard  this  tale  from  Carl  my  heart 
beat  fast  at  the  thought  of  the  great  straits  that 
he  and  the  rest  had  been  brought  through  ;  and 
I  was  glad  to  find  that  in  so  small  a  space  as  my 
isle  (which  at  first  held  none  but  me)  all  these 
tribes  of  the  Great  Race  should  now  live  in 
peace  ! 

I  was  much  struck  with  the  change  in  the  isle, 
for  the  trees  had  grown,  huts  had  sprung  up,  and 
a  great  part  of  the  land  was  sown  for  crops.  As 
to  Will's  hut,  it  was  quite  a  work  of  art;  it  had 
strong  posts  at  each  point,  and  the  walls  and 
roof  were  made  of  cane  work ;  it  had  a  thatch  of 
straw  from  the  rice  plant,  and  a  huge  leaf  on  the 
top  to  screen  it  from  the  sun. 

I  now  told  Carl  that  I  had  not  come  to  take 
off  his  men,  but  to  bring  more,  and  to  give  them 


^lr,:,-:-..|-'..:.*'*:*1-'     ■     '■         . 


*53 


154  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

all  such  things  as  they  might  want  to  guard  their 
homes  and  cheer  their  hearts. 

The  next  day  I  made  a  grand  feast  for  them, 
and  the  ship's  cook  came  on  shore  to  dress  it. 
We  brought  out  some  of  our  rounds  of  salt  beef 
and  pork,  a  bowl  of  punch  and  some  beer  and 
French  wines,  while  Carl  gave  the  cook  five 
whole  kids  to  roast,  three  of  which  were  sent  to 
the  crew  on  board  ship,  that  they  on  their  part 
might  feast  on  fresh  meat  from  the  shore. 

I  gave  the  men  coats,  shirts,  hats,  shoes  and 
all  kinds  of  clothes,  both  for  warm  and  cold  days, 
with  gowns  and  shawls  for  their  wives,  and  I 
need  not  say  how  glad  they  were  of  such  gifts. 
Then  I  brought  out  a  good  stock  of  tools,  from 
which  each  man  had  a  spade,  a  rake,  an  axe,  a 
crow,  a  saw  and  a  knife,  as  well  as  arms  and  all 
that  they  could  want  for  the  use  of  them. 

As  I  now  saw  that  there  was  good  will  on  all 
sides  I  brought  on  shore  the  youth  and  the  girl 
whom  I  took  from  the  wreck  when  they  were  half 
dead  for  want  of  food.  The  girl  had  been  brought 
up  with  care,  and  all  the  crew  had  a  good  word 
for  her.     Both  she  and  the  youth  felt  a  wish  to  be 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  155 

left  on  the  isle,  as  well  as  the  French  priest ;  so  I 
gave  them  each  a  plot  of  ground,  on  which  they 
built  tents  and  barns. 

I  had  brought  out  with  me  men  of  skill  to 
work  on  the  isle,  one  of  whom  could  turn  his 
hand  to  all  sorts  of  things,  so  I  gave  him  the 
name  of  "Jack  of  all  trades." 

One  day  the  French  priest  came  to  me  to  ask 
if  I  would  leave  my  man  Fri-day  on  the  isle. 
"  For  through  him,"  said  he,  "I  could  talk  to  the 
red  men  in  their  own  tongue  and  teach  them  the 
things  of  God  ;  and  need  I  add,  it  was  for  this 
cause  that  I  came  here."  I  felt  that  I  could  not 
part  with  my  man  Fri-day  for  the  whole  world, 
so  I  told  the  priest  that  if  I  could  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  leave  him,  I  was  quite  sure  that 
Fri-day  would  not  leave  me. 

When  I  had  seen  that  all  things  were  in  a  good 
state  on  the  isle,  I  set  to  work  to  put  my  ship  in 
trim  that  I  might  once  more  quit  these  shores. 

As  I  was  on  my  way  to  the  ship  the  youth  whom 
I  spoke  of  just  now  came  up  to  me  and  said :  "Sir, 
you  have  brought  a  priest  with  you,  and  while 
you  are  still  here  we  wish  him  to  wed  two  of  us." 


156  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

I  made  sure  that  one  of  these  must  be  the  maid 
that  I  had  brought  in  my  ship,  and  that  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  young  man  to  make  her  his  wife. 
So  I  spoke  to  him  with  some  warmth  in  my  tone 
and  bade  him  turn  it  well  in  his  mind  first,  as  the 
girl  had  not  been  brought  up  in  the  same  rank  of 
life  as  he  had.  But  he  said  with  a  smile  that  I 
had  made  a  wrong  guess,  for  it  was  "Jack  of  all 
trades"  that  he  had  come  to  plead  for. 

It  gave  me  great  joy  to  hear  this,  as  I  knew 
the  girl  was  as  good  as  she  could  be,  and  I 
thought  well,  too,  of  Jack ;  so  on  that  day  I  gave 
her  to  him  to  be  his  wife.  They  were  to  have 
a  large  piece  of  ground  where  they  might  grow 
their  crops,  with  a  house  to  live  in,  and  sheds  for 
their  goats  and  stores. 

The  isle  was  now  set  out  in  this  way  :  all  the 
west  end  was  left  waste,  so  that  if  the  wild  tribes 
should  land  on  it,  they  might  come  and  go,  and 
hurt  no  one.  The  old  house  was  to  be  the 
Chief's,  with  all  its  woods,  which  now  spread  out 
as  far  as  the  creek,  while  the  south  end  was  for 
the  white  men  and  their  wives  ;   and  as  for  the 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


»57 


poor  red  men  whose  boats   we  had   burnt,  they 
had  the  range  of  the  wild  part  of  the  isle. 

It  struck  me  that  there  was  one  gift  which  I 


I  GAVE  HER  TO  HIM  TO  BE  HIS  WIFE. 


had  not  thought  of,  and  that  was  the  book  of 
God's  Word,  which  I  knew  would  give  them 
fresh  strength  for  their  work,  and  help  them  to 


158  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

bear  the  ills  of  life.  So  I  bade  them  all  come 
round  me,  and  as  I  took  up  this  book  of  books  I 
said,  "Prize  it  and  lay  it  to  your  hearts !  for  there 
are  words  in  it  which  come  from  the  lips  of  Christ 
our  Lord,  words  which  He  speaks  to  us  in  love, 
to  win  us  to  Him.  Till  now  you  have  had  no 
such  book  on  the  isle.  No  doubt  these  rich 
plains,  these  crops,  these  bright  waves  that  wash 
the  shores  which  close  you  in,  all  prove  to  you 
that  there  is  a  Great  God,  a  God  of  Love ;  yet 
these  stop  short  when  they  tell  us  of  God's  skill 
and  God's  love;  they  leave  us  in  the  dark  as  to 
how  we  can  save  our  souls.  But  this  book  tells 
us  of  a  world  to  come,  a  bright  world  of  love  and 
peace — and  the  way  to  gain  it." 

Now  that  I  had  been  on  the  isle  a  month,  on 
the  fifth  day  of  May  I  once  more  set  sail  with  my 
man  Fri-day,  and  they  all  told  me  that  they 
should  stay  there  till  I  came  to  bring  them. 

I  gave  one  long  look  at  them  from  the  deck, 
and  then  hid  my  face  in  my  hands. 

When  we  had  been  out  three  days,  though  the 
sea  was  smooth  and  calm,  I  saw  it  look  quite 
black  at  one  point,  and  heard  one  of  the  crew 
give  a  cry  of  "Land!"    As  I  knew  there  was  no 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


159 


coast  near,  I  could  not  tell  what  to  make  of  this, 
so  I  sent  the  mate  to  the  mast  head,  to  find  out 
with  his  glass  what  it  was.      lie  came  down  with 


'^^^'-^iH^W^'llK'ft^  '■■' 


I  GAVE  THEM  THE  BOOK  OF  GOD'S  WORD. 

the  bad  news  that  it  was  a  fleet  of  scores  and 
scores  of  small  boats,  full  of  wild  men  who  came 
on  fast  with  fierce  looks  at  us. 


i6o  ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 

As  soon  as  they  drew  near  I  gave  the  word  to 
furl  all  sail  and  stop  the  ship,  and  as  I  knew  that 
the  worst  thing  these  men  could  do  was  to  set  us 
on  fire,  I  had  the  boats  out,  and  made  fast  one  of 
them  at  the  head,  and  one  at  the  stern. 

In  this  way  we  lay  by  for  the  foe,  and  in  a  short 
time  they  came  up  with  us,  and,  as  I  thought 
meant  to  close  us  in.  At  first  they  were  struck 
with  awe  at  the  size  of  the  ship,  but  they  soon 
came  so  near  us,  that  our  crew  told  them  by 
signs  with  their  hands  to  keep  back,  and  this, 
though  we  did  not  mean  it,  brought  on  a  fight 
with  them.  They  shot  a  cloud  of  darts  at  our 
boats,  which  our  men  kept  off  with  boards  for 
shields.  We  did  not  fire  at  them,  yet  in  half  an 
hour  they  went  back  out  to  sea,  and  then  came 
straight  at  us  once  more. 

I  bade  my  men  get  out  the  guns,  and  keep 
close,  so  as  to  be  safe  from  their  darts  if  they 
should  shoot,  and  I  then  sent  Fri-day  on  deck  to 
call  out  to  the  wild  men  in  their  own  tongue,  and 
ask  what  they  meant  to  do.  It  may  be  that  they 
did  not  know  what  he  said,  but  as  soon  as  he 
spoke  to  them,  I  heard  him  cry  out  that  they 
would  shoot.     This  was  too  true,  for  they  let  fly 


Robinson  cRusoe. 


Ibl 


a  thick  cloud  of  shafts,   and    to   my   great  grief, 
Fri-day   fell    dead.      There  was  no  one   else  in 

\ 


FRI-DAY  WAS  SHOT  WITH  THREE  DARTS. 

sight,  and   he  was  shot   with   three  darts,   three 
more  of  which   fell  quite  near   him.     I  was  so 


r62  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

mad  with  rage  that  I  should  have  been  quite  glad 
to  sink  all  their  boats,  so  I  let  the  men  load  five 
guns  with  small  shot,  and  five  with  large,  and  we 
gave  them  such  a  fierce  fire  as  they  had  not  seen 
in  all  their  lives. 

Then  a  strange  scene  met  our  eyes,  and  no 
words  can  tell  the  dread  and  fear  that  came  on 
them  all  ;  for  most  of  their  boats,  which  were 
small,  were  split  and  sunk — three  or  four  by  one 
shot.  The  rest  fled  as  fast  as  their  oars  would 
take  them. 

Our  boat  took  up  one  poor  man  who  swam  for 
his  life,  but  his  speech  was  so  strange  to  us,  that 
we  could  have  learnt  as  much  from  the  sound  of 
a  horn.  At  first  he  would  not  eat  or  speak,  and 
we  had  fears  lest  he  would  pine  to  death,  so  to 
cure  him  we  took  him  out  in  the  boat  and  threw 
him  in  the  sea,  and  told  him  by  signs  that  if  he 
would  not  speak  or  eat,  we  would  not  save  his 
life.  He  swam  round  and  round  the  boat,  and 
at  last  made  signs  that  he  would  do  as  we  told 
him,  so  we  took  him  in. 

When  we  -had  taught  him  to  say  a  few  words, 


- 


^M 


WE  GAVE  THEM  A  FIERCE  FIRE. 


163 


164  kOBINSON  CkUSOE. 

he  told  us  that  his  tribe  and  four  more  had  come 
out  with  their  kings  to  have  a  great  fight. 

"But  what,"  said  I,  "made  them  come  up  to 
us?"  At  which  he  said,  "To  make  you  see  great 
fight!" 

So  it  was  for  this  that  poor  Fri-day  fell,  he  who 
for  long  years  had  been  so  good  and  true  to  me ! 
My  heart  sank  with  grief.  We  wound  him  in  a 
shroud  and  let  him  down  to  his  grave  in  the  sea. 
And  now,  with  deep  grief,  I  must  take  my  leave 
of  him. 

We  went  on  with  a  fair  wind  to  All  Saints 
Bay,  and  here  I  found  the  sloop  I  had  brought 
with  me  from  home,  which  I  meant  to  send  to 
my  isle  with  men  and  stores,  when  I  had  learnt 
how  things  stood  there. 

As  one  of  my  crew  felt  a  strong  wish  to  go 
back  to  the  isle  in  it,  I  said  he  should  by  all 
means,  and  I  gave  him  the  red  man  whom  we 
had  on  board,  for  his  slave.  I  found  too  that  a 
man  who  was  in  fear  of  the  Church  of  Spain 
would  be  glad  to  be  safe  there  with  his  wife  and 
two  girls  ;  so  I  put  them  on  board  the  sloop,  and 
I  sent  with  them  three  milch  cows,  five  calves,  a 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


165 


horse,  four  colts,  and  a  score  of  pigs,  all  of  which, 
as  I  heard,  went  safe  and  sound.      I  have  now  no 

more  to  say  of  my  isle,  as  I 

!       had    left  it  for  the  last   time. 

Ill   But  the  rest  of   my  life  was 


fe    *©:; 


BACK  TO  THE  ISLE  SAFE  AND  SOUND. 


spent  for  most  part  in  lands  quite  as  far  from 
home.  From  the  Bay  of  Ail  Saints  we  went 
straight  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.    Here  I  made 


// — Crusoe,  One  Syl. 


166  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

up  my  mind  to  part  with  the  ship  in  which  I  had 
come  from  the  isle,  and  to  stay  on  land. 

I  soon  made  friends  with  some  men  from 
France,  and  two  Jews  who  had  come  out  to  the 
Cape  to  trade.  I  found  that  some  goods  which  I 
had  brought  with  me  from  home  were  worth  a 
great  deal,  and  I  made  a  large  sum  by  the  sale  of 
them,  which  I  laid  out  in  gems,  as  they  took  up 
so  small  a  space. 

When  we  had  been  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
nine  months,  we  thought  that  the  best  thing  we 
could  do  was  to  hire  a  ship,  and  sail  to  the  Spice 
Isle  to  buy  cloves ;  so  we  got  a  ship  and  men  to 
work  her,  and  set  out.  We  went  from  port  to 
port,  to  and  fro,  bought  and  sold  our  goods,  and 
spent  from  first  to  last,  six  years  in  this  part  of 
the  world. 

At  length  we  thought  we  would  go  and  seek 
new  scenes,  and  by  and  by  we  fell  in  with  a 
strange  set  of  men,  as  you  who  read  this  tale  will 
say  when  you  look  at  the  picture. 

When  we  had  gone  on  shore  we  bought  a  large 
house  built  with  canes,  which  had  a  high  fence  of 
the  same  round  it,  to  keep  off  thieves,  of  whom 


ROBINSON   CRUSOE. 


167 


it  seems  there  are  not  a  few  in  that  land.     The 

name  of  the  town  was  Ching,  and  we  found  that 

the  fair  or  mart,  which  was  held  there  once  a  year, 

would  not  take  place  for  three  or  four  months,  so 

we    sent   our 

ship   back   to 

the  Cape,   as 

we  meant  to 

stay  in    this 

part  of  the 

world    for 

some  time, 

and  go   from 

place  to  place 

to  look  round 

us,  and  then 

come  back  to 

the    fair    at 

Ching. 

We  first  went  to  a  town  which  it  was  well 
worth  our  while  to  see ;  it  was  quite  in  the  heart 
of  the  land,  and  was  built  with  straight  streets 
which  ran  in  cross  lines. 

But  I  must  say,  when    I  came  home  to  the 


WE  WENT  FROM  PORT  TO  PORT. 


l66  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

place  of  my  birth,  I  was  much  struck  to  hear  my 
friends  say  such  fine  things  of  the  wealth  and 
trade  of  this  part  of  the  world ;  for  I  found  that 
the  men  were  a  mere  herd  of  mean  slaves,  who 
could  boast  of  but  few  arts  or  works  of  skill,  and 
that  their  ways  were  well  nigh  as  rough  as  those 
of  the  red  men  whom  I  had  left  on  my  isle. 

What  is  their  trade  to  ours,  or  that  of  France 
and  Spain  ?  What  are  their  ports,  with  a  few 
junks  and  barks,  to  our  grand  fleets?  One  of 
our  large  ships  of  war  would  sink  all  their  craft, 
one  line  of  French  troops  would  beat  all  their 
horse,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  ports,  which 
would  not  stand  for  one  month  such  a  siege  as 
we  could  bring  to  bear  on  them.  In  three  weeks' 
time  we  came  to  their  chief  town,  where  we  laid 
in  a  large  stock  of  tea,  fans,  shawls,  trays,  and 
raw  silk,  which  we  put  on  the  backs  of  our  mules, 
and  set  out  for  the  North.  We  had  with  us  some 
Scots  who  had  come  out  to  trade  here,  and  had 
great  wealth. 

As  we  knew  that  we  should  run  all  kinds  of 
risks  on  our  way,  we  took  a  strong  force  with  us, 
to  keep  off  the  wild  hordes  who  rove  from  place 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


169 


to  place  all  through  the  land.  We  had  five  guides, 
and  all  our  coin  was  put  in  one  purse  to  buy  food 
on  the  way,  and  to  pay  the  men  who  took  charge 

of  us.  One  of  us  we  chose 
for  our  chief,  to  take  the 
lead  in  case  we  should  have 


A  STRANGE  SET  OF  MEN. 


to  fight  for  our  lives ;  and  when  that  time  came 

we  found  that  we  had  no  small  need  of  his  skill. 

On   each  side  of   the  road  we  saw  men  who 

were  at  work  on  cups,   bowls,   and  jars,   of  all 


170  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

shapes  that  could  be  thought  of,  which  they  made 
out  of  a  fine  clay ;  and  this  is  the  ware  that  has 
so  wide  a  fame,  and  is  the  chief  trade  in  this  part 
of  the  world. 

One  thing  the  guide  said  he  would  shovv  me, 
which  could  be  seen  no  where  else  (and  this,  in 
good  sooth,  I  could  not  sneer  at,  as  I  had  done 
at  most  of  the  things  I  had  seen  here),  for  it  was 
to  be  a  house  all  built  with  the  same  kind  of  ware 
as  the  plates  and  cups  that  we  use  are  made  of, 
but  much  more  choice.  ' '  How  big  is  this  house  ? ' ' 
said  I  ;  "  can  we  take  it  on  the  mule's  back  ?  " 
"  On  the  mule's  back  !  "  said  the  guide;  "why, 
two  score  men  live  in  it."  He  then  took  me  to 
see  this  strange  sight,  and  it  was  in  truth  a  large 
house,  built  with  laths,  on  which  were  hung  tiles 
of  the  best  ware  that  can  be  made  out  of  clay. 
It  had  a  bright  glaze  on  it,  which  shone  in  the  sun 
like  glass.  Down  the  sides  of  the  house  were 
leaves  and  scrolls,  drawn  with  blue  paint ;  and 
walls  of  the  rooms  were  made  of  small  tiles  in 
all  shades  of  red,  blue,  and  green,  with  here  and 
there  some  gold  on  them,  in  rude  forms  it  is  true, 
but  done  in  good  taste  ;   and  as  the  same  kind  of 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


171 


earth  was  made  use  of  to  join  the  tiles,  you  could 
not  see  where  they  met.  The  floors  of  all  the 
rooms  were  of   the  same  kind  of   ware  and  so 


MEN   AT  WORK  ON  CUPS,   BOWLS  AND  JARS. 

was  the  roof;  but  that  was  quite  black  to  keep 
off  the  heat  of  the  sun's  rays.  If  I  had  had 
more   time   to  spare,    I  should   have  been  glad 


172  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

to  see  more  of  this  strange  place,  for  there 
were  ponds  for  the  fish,  as  well  as  walks,  courts, 
and  yards,  all  of  which  were  made  in  the  same 
way. 

This  odd  sight  kept  me  from  my  friends  for 
two  hours,  and  when  I  came  up  to  them,  I  paid  a 
fine  to  our  Chief,  as  he  and  all  the  rest  had  had 
to  wait  for  me  so  long  ;  for  we  ran  a  great  risk  if 
we  did  not  keep  close  to  the  rest. 

In  two  days'  time  we  came  to  the  Great  Wall, 
which  was  built  as  a  fort  to  guard  the  land  from 
the  wild  tribes  that  roam  at  large  through  the 
vast  plains  to  the  west.  It  runs  the  whole  length 
of  the  land,  and  turns,  and  winds,  and  is  so  high 
that  it  was  thought  no  foe  could  climb  it,  or,  if 
they  did,  no  wall  could  stop  them. 

Our  Chief  gave  some  of  us  leave  to  go  out  and 
hunt,  as  they  called  it ;  but  what  was  it  but  to  hunt 
sheep  !  These  sheep,  as  it  fell  out,  were  not 
such  bad  sport,  for  they  are  wild  and  swift  of 
foot ;  they  go  in  large  flocks,  and,  like  true  sheep, 
keep  close  when  they  fly. 

In  this  hunt  we  met  with  some  of  the  wild 
hordes  I  spoke  of,  who  rove  from  place  to  place 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 


173 


in  gangs,  to  rob  and  kill  all  they  fall  in  with. 
They  know  no  true  mode  of  war  or  skill  in  fight, 
their  arms  are  not  good,  and,  as  to  their  steeds, 


WILD  HORDES  AVHO  ROVE. 


they  are  but  poor  lean  beasts,  and  by  no  means 
fit  for  hard  work. 

As  soon  as  these  men  saw  us,  they  blew  some 
notes  on  a  kind  of  horn,  the  sound  of  which  was 
quite  new  to  me.     We  thought  it  must  be  to  call 


174  ROBINSON  CRUSOE. 

their  friends  round  them,  and  so  it  was,  for  in  a 
short  time  a  fresh  troop  of  the  same  size  came  to 
join  them,  and  they  were  all,  as  far  as  we  could 
judge,  a  mile  off.  As  soon  as  one  of  the  Scots 
who  was  with  us  heard  the  horn,  he  said  we  must 
lose  no  time,  but  draw  up  in  line,  and  charge 
them  at  once.  We  told  him  we  would  all  fight 
the  rogues,  if  he  would  take  the  lead. 

They  stood  like  a  mere  crowd,  drawn  up  in  no 
line,  and  cast  a  wild  gaze  at  us.  But  when  they 
saw  us  come  at  them  they  let  fly  their  darts, 
which,  though  their  aim  was  true,  fell  short  of  us. 
We  made  a  halt  to  fire,  then  rode  at  full  speed  and 
fell  on  them,  sword  in  hand,  led  by  the  bold  Scot. 

As  soon  as  we  came  up  they  fled  right  and  left, 
but  three  of  them,  each  of  whom  had  a  short 
sword,  made  a  stand  and  did  all  they  could  to 
call  the  rest  back.  Our  Scot  rode  close  up  to 
them,  and  with  the  stock  of  his  gun  threw  one 
from  his  horse,  shot  the  next,  and  the  third  ran 
off;  and  this  put  an  end  to  the  fight.  All  that 
we  lost  were  the  sheep  we  had  in  chase,  for  not  a 
man  was  hurt. 

Thus  we  went  on  from  place  to  place,  and  at 


175 


176 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE 


length  made  our  way  to  the  chief  town  of  the 
North  Seas  just  a  year  and  a  half  from  the  time 
when  we  left  Ching. 

At  last  I  took  ship  and  set  sail  for  the  land  of 


OUR  SCOT  SHOT  THE  NEXT,  AND  THE  THIRD  RAN  OFF. 

my  birth,  which  I  had  left  this  time  for  ten  years, 
nine  months  and  three  days. 

And  now  I  must  bring  this  tale  of  my  life  to 
a  close ;  while  at  the  age  of  three  score  years 
and  twelve,  I  feel  that  the  day  is  at  hand  when 


ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  *77 

I  must    pray  to  go  forth   on   that   sea  of  peace 


I  SAIL  FOR  THE  LAND  OF  MY  BIRTH. 


and  love  which  has  no  waves  or  shores  but  those 
of  bliss  which  knows  no  end. 


THE    END. 


